Day 189 - 20 Nov 95 - Page 12

     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  The number of staff -- just to say that
     2        Mr. Mehigan, somewhere in an affidavit he had written at
     3        the time, said that it was something over 150 for both
     4        stores, and then later on he said 202.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Why not just ask Mrs. Casey?
     7
     8   MR. MORRIS:  (To the witness):  What do you think the complement
     9        of staff would have been at the beginning?
    10        A.  It is a rough estimate guess, but I would have thought
    11        around 60.
    12
    13   Q.   At the Grafton Street store?
    14        A.  Grafton Street, yes.
    15
    16   Q.   Was O'Connell Street store bigger or smaller, or what?
    17        A.  I think the volume of -- in terms of business, Grafton
    18        Street was the busier store.
    19
    20   Q.   Grafton Street?
         A.  Yes, I think so.
    22
    23   Q.   Could there have been some part-timers, though, you did not
    24        see very often?
    25        A.  There would be a lot of kind of Saturday part-timers
    26        that would just come in -- Saturday workers.  So there
    27        could very well have been 70 working at the store.  I do
    28        not know.
    29
    30   Q.   OK.  Just to go back to your subsequent period since you
    31        left McDonald's:  when you went to the Swiss Chalet, were
    32        there any differences between the situation there and the
    33        situation at McDonald's?
    34        A.  In terms of?
    35
    36   Q.   In terms of pay and conditions?
    37        A.  Absolutely.  My salary nearly doubled.  We got our
    38        breaks on time.  We did not have to work over long
    39        periods.  McDonald's had a system -----
    40
    Q.   Sorry, you did not have to work over long periods?
    42        A.  Well, you know, you get a half hour break every four
    43        hours.  That is contained in some of our legislation.  But
    44        sometimes, if you were working an eight hour shift, you
    45        would be told to take your break in quiet periods so that
    46        you could work for an hour and a half and then have a
    47        break, and you would not get a break then for the rest of
    48        your six hour shift.
    49
    50   Q.   For the next six hours? 
    51        A.  Yes. 
    52 
    53   Q.   That was at McDonald's?
    54        A.  Yes.  So the breaks were regularised.  In terms of
    55        staff making their own way home, the restaurant was also a
    56        late night opening restaurant; there was a taxi supplied or
    57        lifts home supplied for staff.  In terms of young people
    58        working there, the Swiss Chalet restaurant applied the
    59        conditions in terms of the legislation, and that anybody
    60        under 18 did not work after 10 o'clock at night.