Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 30
1 day? That is the way it seems to me at the moment, unless
2 you have got some specific topic which you are concerned
3 about, which you feel you must put to Mr. Nicholson.
4
5 MR. MORRIS: Is there a reason why you have not read the witness
6 statements of the Defendants for this issue employment
7 issue?
8 A. No, I am used to criminal prosecutions. I present my
9 case. I have made my statement, and you have it.
10
11 Q. I was going to refer Mr. Nicholson to statements and ask
12 him questions about them. Obviously if he had read them
13 I could say: "Well, where Mr. Crammer says such and such,
14 would that be a thing you have heard before amongst
15 managers?" or -----
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You do not have to relate it to a particular
18 witness. What you should really have is incidents which
19 you say happened or patterns of behaviour or conduct, and
20 so on, on which you are then going to ask him: "Is this
21 something you were aware of occurring from time to time?"
22 Can you not do it that way? It will be much less laboured
23 than referring to particular witness statements.
24
25 MR. MORRIS: I have sort of done a list of things and it would
26 take a very short time, but if we-----
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Extract the guts of that; the practices or
29 unsatisfactory ways of, you would suggest, McDonald's
30 dealing with employers and by all means ask whether he has
31 been aware of that happening.
32
33 MR. MORRIS: Yes. You say that people have a right to join a
34 trades union, and they should presumably know they have got
35 a right to join a trades union, yes?
36 A. I presume so.
37
38 Q. Would you be concerned if a manager described unions as an
39 unspoken taboo in the company?
40 A. I would reject it completely.
41
42 Q. Would you be concerned, if that is what -----
43 A. No, I do not think it is.
44
45 Q. You would be concerned if it was a taboo?
46 A. It is not a taboo.
47
48 Q. Would you be concerned if that is the impression that
49 employees were getting?
50 A. I have no reason to believe they are.
51
52 Q. If they were getting that, would be concerned?
53 A. I cannot answer that question. I have no reason to
54 believe they are; I am not concerned.
55
56 Q. But you have not read the statements; you have only spoken
57 to employees in formal circumstances.
58
59 MR. RAMPTON: No, my Lord, I want to make an objection, if Mr.
60 Morris would not mind. It is not right to put hypothetical
