Day 122 - 05 May 95 - Page 25

     
     1
     2   Q.   Rounded down?
     3        A.  Sorry, rounded down to 8p.  What we did, when they
     4        simplified the Wages Council order, and they did not come
     5        out with those peculiar figures, but they came out with
     6        £2.10, or, it would be lifted to £2.20.  Then I was able to
     7        say:  "Right everyone will get that simple basic uplift in
     8        their salary".
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  Basically what seems to me to be happening
    11        logically, I put to you, is that the people in London, for
    12        example, were above the minimum rate, because they had the
    13        London area premium whatever, but the people in the
    14        provinces were at the minimum rate?
    15        A.  Before then there was a minimum rate set for London,
    16        and there was a minimum rate set for the provinces.  When
    17        the Wages Council changed, there was a single minimum rate
    18        for the whole of country.
    19
    20   MS. STEEL:   Say the crew -----
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When was that?
    23        A.  It changed from 1986 to 1987.
    24
    25   Q.   I appreciate there were various and then it went out
    26        altogether in 1989 changes?
    27        A.  In 1986 to 1987, 1987 they changed it.  They did not
    28        have that long complicated document; it was just simply a
    29        one-page document that set the new basic rate.
    30
    31   MR. MORRIS:  McDonald's paid people in London extra because of
    32        recruitment concerns or whatever?
    33        A. And what I am saying is we maintained that London
    34        differential.
    35
    36   Q.   After this memo?
    37        A.  Yes.
    38
    39   Q.   Before that people in London would not have got a increase?
    40        A.  They would have got an increase appropriate to London.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Before that the Wages Council had different
    43        minima.
    44
    45   MR. RAMPTON:  There was an age break at which they stopped at as
    46        well.
    47
    48   MS. STEEL:  Outside London, say in ---
    49        A.  Sheffield.
    50 
    51   Q.  -- Sheffield, you have got a worker who has had a couple of 
    52        performance reviews; one they got "excellent", one they got 
    53        "good" or something?
    54        A.  Yes.
    55
    56   Q.   So they are, whatever it is, 20, 25p above what the minimum
    57        starting wage was.  Prior to 1987 when the Wages Council
    58        increased the wages ---
    59        A.  Yes.
    60