Day 179 - 30 Oct 95 - Page 04
1 a percentage of the takings, even small things like the
2 amount of sauces used per portion of Chicken McNuggets sold
3 or the amount of ketchup used per burger sold, and so on.
4 These targets were set by managers above store level.
5
6 "The Colchester store was set specific targets by the Area
7 Supervisor, who was a man called Frank Stanton. It was
8 plain to see that he was a highly ambitious man who wanted
9 to get on rapidly in the Company. He lived for
10 McDonald's.
11
12 "In order to improve the yield performance of the
13 Colchester store, even though they were considered totally
14 acceptable, he instructed the Store Manager, Mark Davis, to
15 water down drinks syrups, ketchup, mustard, milkshake mix,
16 use less lettuce in the burgers, cut the cheese slices into
17 two pieces, one roughly half the size of the other, and to
18 use the larger piece in the cheeseburgers which should have
19 had a whole slice and the smaller piece in the
20 Filet-o-fish, which should have had half a slice; make the
21 staff squeeze the fry cartons when filling them, and so
22 on.
23
24 "Mark Davis held a managers meeting and instructed us to
25 carry out Stanton's orders, whatever our opinion of them.
26
27 "All this was at the expense of quality that McDonald's
28 supposedly valued so much. Undoubtedly, Stanton's
29 superiors knew from the high yields reported to them in the
30 weekly and monthly paperwork that the customers were being
31 ripped off, yet Stanton was promoted rapidly to a higher
32 management position."
33
34 Is all that correct, from your experience?
35 A. Yes, it is.
36
37 Q. "2) Within a month of the Colchester store opening in
38 June 1984, the Store Manager, Martin Holloway, decided that
39 the crew room was being left too messy by the crew. In
40 order to solve the problem, he decided to lock the room so
41 it could not be used. The crew were expected to take their
42 breaks outside of the building. This caused ill feeling
43 amongst the crew and, as a form of protest, the 'McDonald's
44 Freedom Fighters' were born. This was a lighthearted group
45 of crew who decided to get the crew room re-opened by
46 actions such as joking with the management about a go
47 slow.
48
49 "I also went to the Citizens' Advice Bureau with another
50 crew member called Mark -- I cannot remember his surname --
51 and asked them if McDonald's were entitled to close the
52 room. On returning to the store, we informed the First
53 Assistant Manager, Mark Davis, of our visit and asked him
54 to mention it to the Manager, Martin Holloway, without
55 mentioning our names.
56
57 "Within an hour the crew room was re-opened and people that
58 management considered to be the ringleaders of MFF" -- that
59 is, presumably, McDonald's Freedom Fighters ---
60 A. Yes.
