Day 195 - 04 Dec 95 - Page 48
1
2 Q. -- there is a sentence: "Some people who were asked too
3 often to go home did in fact get quite cross and would
4 refuse to go"?
5 A. That is right.
6
7 Q. "Even if refused, they were sent home nevertheless.
8 I often overheard Managers instructing their deputies to
9 pick on a particular crew member to be sent home", and so
10 on. What do you mean by the word "often"?
11 A. I mean, when it happened that the store was not as busy
12 as they expected it, I heard Managers instructing others to
13 pick on some crew members to send home.
14
15 Q. I am interested in the Managers who gave the instruction.
16 A. Yes.
17
18 Q. Can you tell us who gave that instruction?
19 A. Who gave the instructions to the Managers?
20
21 Q. No, you said you overheard Managers instructing their
22 deputies to pick on a particular crew member to be sent
23 home, for example, with a creased uniform or needing a hair
24 cut.
25 A. I would say any Manager was under pressure to do that,
26 and the people that I have specifically got in mind who
27 were more willingly, who would more willingly do that, are
28 like Trudie Jones and Mark, the Store Manager, himself.
29
30 Q. You heard Mark Davies saying this, did you?
31 A. Yes.
32
33 Q. Why did you not put any of these names into your statement?
34 A. Because I regarded the management as a collective body
35 then. I did not regard it as one person decides to do
36 that. I would regard them as being under pressure in
37 management -- any Manager would have done that, in my
38 opinion. That is why I used the collective noun there.
39
40 Q. Can you turn now, please, to your second statement?
41 A. Yes.
42
43 Q. Turn to the second page, the third paragraph: "I remember
44 somebody actually having their hours cut but I cannot
45 remember his name. However, I do remember that Simon
46 Gibney was the Manager in charge of time schedules and he
47 gave a cut to this man because he did not stay after the
48 shift ended. He was under 18 and his hours were cut from
49 20 to 40 hours a week and he left." You do not remember to
50 whom that happened? Is that right?
51 A. No, I do not.
52
53 Q. How do you know that it did happen?
54 A. Because if you are working with others in that sort of
55 environment when you are in close touch every day, unless
56 they are lying and you know they are lying, you take their
57 word for it, and that is what the person, you know, people
58 who to whom this happened were telling me, including Simon
59 Gibney.
60
