witness statement



name: Craig Donachie
section: Employment
for: The Defence
experience: McDonald's crew member

summary:

The witness reveals details of cost-cutting techniques and safety regulation failures at McDonald's.

cv:


A former worker for McDonald Corporation.

Full cv:
(not available for this witness)

full statement:

What I saw whilst working for McDonald's

Because Area Managers demand that their store come in to budget each month, corner cutting is an everyday occurence. For example, people who work overtime are told to clock off and they will be paid miscellaneous [sic] payments under (back pay) instead of overtime pay. Other ways of penny pinching on labour is to allow under 18s to work after 10pm and 12pm and also be paid backpay instead of on the clockcards.

Staff were also forced to work shifts they didn't want to do for e.g. people were called in on their days off to work, but if they refused their scheduled hours were cut for the following week so staff had to do as they were told or they would suffer in the pocket.


Safety Failures

The worst things I saw whilst at McDonald's was the disregard for staff safety to save money e.g. while filtering the fat from the fryers staff should wear a full protective outfit but, when things like the face visor were broken or missing they were not replaced until one of the big bosses was due to visit.

Also broken power points in the floor were not replaced until a big boss visited. Staff had to mop around the broken power point daily. Raw produce was very rarely thrown away - mould was scraped from bread buns, defrosted food was refrozen, and out of date stock simply had its sell by date sticker removed.

ALL OF THIS TO SAVE MONEY WHICH McDONALD'S HAS STACKS OF.


date signed: July 26, 1993
status: Not called to appear in court

references: Not applicable/available
exhibits: Not applicable/ available

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