Day 172 - 12 Oct 95 - Page 21

     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you want to read Miss Anstee then?  I will
     3        say that this is the statement of Karen Anstee dated
     4        26th July, 1993, which Mr. Morris is going to read.
     5
     6   MR. MORRIS:  26th July, 1993:
     7
     8        "After viewing a student video made in 1989 on the subject
     9        of the fast food industry in which I was featured, London
    10        Greenpeace has asked me to make a statement about my
    11        experiences as a McDonald's employee.
    12
    13        "I am not, nor have I ever been a member of London
    14        Greenpeace.  I have no prior knowledge of this
    15        organisation, save that it too contributed in the making of
    16        the aforementioned video.  My views are therefore not
    17        necessarily those of London Greenpeace.
    18
    19        "I worked at the McDonald's in Southgate, North London,
    20        between July 1986 and June 1987 on a part-time basis during
         my final year as a student at the Royal Academy of Music.
    22        The following is an accurate and true statement based
    23        solely on my experiences working at McDonald's during this
    24        period.
    25
    26        "Looking back, there are three words that best describe my
    27        impression of the McDonald's working environment - unsafe,
    28        dehumanising and manipulative."
    29
    30        There is a heading:  "Unsafe":
    31
    32        "At all times there are grills at extremely high
    33        temperatures and vats of boiling oil all round the worker.
    34        This, together with the high speeds at which one is
    35        expected to work, leads to accidents.  Many employees had
    36        burn scars particularly on their lower arms.
    37
    38        "On my first day at work I was trained to cook 'Quarter
    39        Pounders'.  At one point in the process I was required to
    40        take the hot burger off the grill with a spatula and then
         use my bare fingers to hold it on as I drained the fat off
    42        it.  I was also required to take a cloth and wipe it over
    43        the grill between batches of burgers.  For both safety and
    44        hygiene reasons, I felt that the protection for the hands
    45        and wrists should have been a part of the uniform.
    46
    47        "Dehumanising.
    48
    49        "Everything about the working environment at McDonald's
    50        seemed geared to dehumanising the work force, turning the 
    51        employees into no more than an efficient part of the 
    52        machinery. 
    53
    54        "In most working environments conversation is a normal part
    55        of the average day but this is most definitely not the case
    56        at McDonald's.  Every part of the process of creating the
    57        product is governed by language specific to that process.
    58        The employees spent their day repeating the same phrases
    59        over and over again.  I soon discovered that even if one
    60        used a phrase that meant the same as the accepted