Day 140 - 22 Jun 95 - Page 08
1 Q. The dispute over people being sacked?
2 A. Yes.
3
4 Q. People being transferred there to other stores?
5 A. I know -----
6
7 Q. Did you hear about something like that?
8 A. I know in general that people transfer among McDonald's
9 stores. When you have an owner/operator or a licensee, he
10 or she will frequently transfer people between stores to
11 deal with changes in volume and other business kinds of
12 things. But I do not know specifically what transfer
13 occurred in Spain, because that never got to be an issue
14 for me. But I know that, in general, transfers do happen
15 everywhere around the globe.
16
17 Q. So you did not tell him that he should not transfer any
18 people from that store, following that dispute?
19 A. To my knowledge, it was never an issue; there was no
20 reason to talk about it. If I can help you a bit, the
21 elections took place in every store. So I do not
22 understand where you are going.
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not worry about that. Just -----
25
26 MR. MORRIS: You do not understand?
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just answer the questions. If Mr. Rampton
29 thinks it relevant to seek more information from you, he
30 has an opportunity to do so when Mr. Morris' and
31 Ms. Steel's cross-examination is completed. I do not know
32 what you do in the States, but we call it re-examination.
33 A. It is the same thing, my Lord.
34
35 MR. MORRIS: You do not understand the significance of the power
36 of a manager to transfer employees when there has been a
37 union dispute in a particular store?
38 A. I am not sure I follow your question.
39
40 Q. You said you do not understand the significance of that.
41
42 MR. RAMPTON: I hesitate about this, because Mr. Morris knows,
43 which Mr. Stein does not, Mr. Morris has no evidence to
44 support this alleged transfer. He is quite entitled under
45 the Court of Appeal's ruling to ask Mr. Stein about it.
46 Mr. Stein has said that he does not know. Mr. Morris is
47 not entitled to assert that it happened.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: You do not know about, in general, the significance
50 of the employer having the power to transfer people, you
51 said?
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why do you not put -----
54
55 MR. MORRIS: A general point.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why do you not put what you suggest the
58 significance would be, and then take it from there?
59
60 MR. MORRIS: I would have thought that -----
