Day 140 - 22 Jun 95 - Page 06


     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  It relates to this incident and whether Mr. Stein
     2        checked the conditions that the staff were working in --
     3        personnel conditions; I am not interested in food safety.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Where have you pleaded something about that?
     6
     7   MR. MORRIS:  I am talking about this incident.
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Where have you pleaded, for instance, that
    10        any part of the dispute arose out of the actual conditions
    11        in the store?
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  The point is, we are entitled to know why employees
    14        should be so keen on having unions in these particular
    15        stores.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  Well, I just cannot agree with that.
    18        Where you have pleaded on a topic, then you must stick, at
    19        least broadly, to the thrust of the allegation in your
    20        pleading on that.  I have no reason whatsoever to suppose
    21        that people want union representation because they think
    22        that their work conditions are bad or poor in any
    23        significant way.  It might be because they think their
    24        negotiating position will be stronger and that, whatever
    25        their conditions are, they might be improved.  They might
    26        just think, rightly or wrongly, that it puts them in a more
    27        equable position with regard to their employer who might
    28        otherwise have more power than them.  There are all sorts
    29        of reasons.  They might just, on a matter of what they see
    30        as democratic principle, think unions ought to be part of
    31        their lives.
    32
    33        There are a thousand and one reasons, and unless you have
    34        pleaded one which gives the Defendants (sic) notice of
    35        bringing in something like, let us suppose, allegedly poor
    36        conditions in the stores, then I am going to restrict your
    37        questioning about it.
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:  Well, that is the whole point of the question, to
    40        put to Mr. Stein that the conditions in Madrid were not any
    41        worse than -- they were average McDonald's stores.  The
    42        joint venture partner was -----
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If all you want to establish is that there
    45        was nothing untoward about the conditions in the stores,
    46        then I will let you ask that question, because what I have
    47        just said was on the basis that I thought you were going to
    48        introduce something about inferior conditions in some way,
    49        which just is not pleaded.
    50 
    51        (To the witness)  So, will you answer that question:  was 
    52        there anything untoward about the conditions in the stores 
    53        you noted -- that store?
    54        A.  No, my Lord.
    55
    56   MR. MORRIS:  They were typical McDonald's conditions that you
    57        have seen anywhere?
    58        A.  I have got to clarify what he is saying, "conditions".
    59        Spain is a different country; Spain has their own personnel
    60        people practices that would be somewhat different, because

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