Day 153 - 12 Jul 95 - Page 04
1 MR. MORRIS: You said on page 3, at the bottom of the first
2 paragraph there, about the Company changing from paid
3 breaks to non-paid breaks, and employees offered a 10p rise
4 in compensation for that; yes?
5 A. Yes.
6
7 Q. And now everybody in the Company is on non-paid breaks;
8 yes?
9 A. Well, unless they did not accept the rise in
10 compensation for the breaks. I believe there is the odd
11 person around who still gets paid for their breaks, but
12 that is -----
13
14 Q. 29,993 out of ------
15 A. Something like that, yes.
16
17 Q. Just refresh my memory on the amount of break you get, say,
18 in an eight hour shift?
19 A. I believe at the time it is three-quarters of an hour.
20
21 Q. What is it now?
22 A. It is the same for an eight hour shift.
23
24 Q. We saw McDonald's calculation on the break times, but is
25 that a legal requirement?
26 A. I believe it is a legal requirement. I think so.
27
28 Q. You would have thought so?
29 A. I know it was a Company requirement, anyway.
30
31 Q. You would have thought so, would you not, that if there is
32 going to be ------
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is not good enough. I must know whether
35 it is a legal requirement or not. I am not going to assume
36 that it is a legal requirement unless I am shown it. The
37 mere fact that a witness, who is not a lawyer, says he
38 thinks so does not help me one jot. It should be very easy
39 to find out. If, for instance, you rang Mr. Pearson, for
40 all I know, he can give you the answer straightaway.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: Yes. The three-quarters of an hour would have
43 been -- I do not know the wage rate at the time. Do you
44 still -----
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can I just check that we are on the same
47 wavelength? The few minutes you get you might get in the
48 middle of the first half of the shift or the middle of the
49 second half of a shift, you are not talking about those at
50 all at the moment?
51 A. No. We are talking about the actual break.
52
53 Q. They are paid; it is as if the person continued working?
54 A. That is right. The non-paid breaks at the moment are,
55 you know, like where they go off for three-quarters of an
56 hour and have their lunch.
57
58 Q. The more substantial breaks in or about the middle of the
59 shift?
60 A. That is correct, right.
