Day 196 - 06 Dec 95 - Page 05

     
     1
     2   Q.   "I left in August 1991" that should be, is that correct?
     3        A.  That is correct, yes.
     4
     5   Q.   "I resigned after writing a letter to Head Office
     6        criticising management style at the Company and certain
     7        practices I was expected to sanction or enforce.  I took
     8        this decision despite the fact that I was generally
     9        satisfied with my pay as Manager, and despite enjoying many
    10        aspects of my work.  Some of the practices which give me
    11        cause for concern regarding my experiences.  (1) Labour
    12        Costs - There was a lot of pressure on management to keep
    13        labour costs down.  This applied on a store-by-store basis,
    14        and also within the region as a whole.  The store was
    15        expected to keep within its set budget.  When senior
    16        officials visited the store we would have to increase
    17        staffing levels, e.g. up to around 20 per cent of sales,
    18        and then we would have to drastically decrease labour costs
    19        for the rest of the week, e.g. down to 10 per cent, in
    20        order to conform to the usually weekly budget for such
         costs.
    22
    23        (2) Food Costs - Likewise there was pressure to keep food
    24        costs down.  This included being told to give smaller
    25        portions of certain items, e.g. lettuce, and 'watering
    26        down' other items.  There was pressure not to throw food
    27        away.
    28
    29        (3) Hours Worked - The pressure to keep labour costs down
    30        resulted in certain unacceptable practices.  For example,
    31        people not being paid for the hours they worked with two
    32        hours being docked off their time and clock cards being
    33        altered.  Some staff worked illegal hours.  I resisted
    34        this, but sometimes if there was no one else due to
    35        under-staffing I had no choice.  A few times a year under
    36        18s worked beyond their legal time at night but were
    37        clocked off at the correct time and given a bonus instead.
    38
    39        It was not abnormal for me to have to work 70 hours per
    40        week.  Those who were interested in promotion often would
         feel they had to work very long hours in order to impress.
    42        This was an unwritten rule.  The schedule could be, and
    43        was, used in a discriminatory way.  I was told to use my
    44        scheduling power to favour some crew at the expense of
    45        others regarding getting the hours they requested," etc.
    46
    47        (4) Trade Unions - It was clear to me that the Company did
    48        not want any union activity.  This was an unwritten rule.
    49        Crew seriously thinking of this would have been removed.
    50        I was present when some of the workers discussed setting up 
    51        the 'McDonald's Freedom Fighters'.  The idea started as a 
    52        joke in a pub, but the Company took this very seriously and 
    53        I was told to sack some of those involved under the pretext
    54        that they were a 'disruptive influence'.  I did not agree
    55        with this and I later re-hired one of them, Paul Jackson.
    56
    57        In the end I left because I objected to being told how to
    58        treat those who were employed at the store.  Many of the
    59        Company procedures and systems were fine in theory or on
    60        paper, but in practice at store level it was impossible to