Day 142 - 26 Jun 95 - Page 21
1 it or on the fringes of it, or whether you are in a small
2 market town somewhere but, essentially, the wages structure
3 is national.
4
5 In the United States (but I would like you to correct me if
6 I am wrong), you have franchisees who will have their own
7 idea of what the right rate is in their stores; you have
8 McOpco stores around the country where it is very much left
9 to the Manager to decide. They may be in different states
10 and there may be different statutory provisions in
11 different states. So, there is not the same universal rate
12 or rates in the States that there are in the UK.
13 A. That is correct, my Lord.
14
15 Q. If Ms. Steel or Mr. Morris wants to ask you what happens in
16 Germany and you know, you can answer, but you cannot be
17 talking worldwide.
18 A. That is correct, my Lord. That is the difficulty I am
19 in.
20
21 MS. STEEL: In the United States there are no collective
22 negotiations between McDonald's and the crew over wages,
23 are there?
24 A. None of the restaurants in the United States have a
25 union, if that is your question, so there is no collective
26 bargaining with a union -- if that is what your question
27 is.
28
29 Q. Or with employees?
30 A. There is the discussion that I mentioned earlier to you
31 that will take place, the give and take discussion.
32
33 Q. When they are hired?
34 A. No, no, when they are hired, if someone has a concern
35 about their wages or anything, I think you have seen the
36 variety of practices that we have to make sure that there
37 is good communications between crew and their managers and
38 then on above. So, if there are any disagreements or
39 different points of view or feelings, that that will all
40 surface and be discussed.
41
42 Q. The Company has a fairly set formula on wages, does it
43 not? We heard from Mr. Beavers that the starting rate, by
44 and large, is just above the minimum wage, but that if
45 there are places where recruitment is more difficult or
46 something like that, then it might be higher. You would
47 agree with that?
48 A. No, I would not agree with it because you are saying a
49 lot of different things. What the owner/operators will do,
50 what the Company stores will do, is they will survey the
51 marketplace for jobs and employers in the broad industry
52 that I have discussed in the past, the retailing industry,
53 the quick service industry, the hospitality industry, and
54 then they will see what the wages are that other employers
55 are paying. Then they will aim, at least philosophically,
56 they should be aiming for the high end of that range, so
57 that that can vary tremendously throughout the US as to
58 what the starting rate would be based upon that kind of
59 survey.
60
