Day 140 - 22 Jun 95 - Page 17

     
     1        A.  I believe -- I do not know about cities.  I know the
     2        district of Columbia, in which the capital of the United
     3        States is, does set theirs, but that is a district -- well,
     4        it is a city, but it is also a district of the
     5        United States.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can I just understand, in case it comes up in
     8        this or any other context, because I am rather uninformed
     9        about what the authorities are in the States.  I understand
    10        the Federal Authority, I understand the State Authority.
    11        There are city authorities as well?
    12        A. Yes, my Lord.
    13
    14   Q.   What do the counties amount to?  I know that some of them
    15        are pretty enormous in size, are they not?
    16        A.  Yes, my Lord.  My Lord, in the US, I will use Pittsburg
    17        as an example ---
    18
    19   Q.   Yes?
    20        A.  -- where I resided for five years.  You have a city
         government; you can have a county government; you then
    22        would go to a state government; and then you would go to a
    23        federal government.
    24
    25   Q.   Right.
    26        A.  And they all have various powers and authority.
    27
    28   Q.   Do they all have the constitutional power to set a minimum
    29        wage -- because, as I understand it, you do not, as a
    30        county authority, for instance, have all the powers within
    31        your county that the Federal Authority would have over all
    32        the United States?
    33        A.  Yes.
    34
    35   Q.   Or is that wrong?
    36        A.  No, my Lord.  We are getting into federal pre-emption,
    37        and that term in the United States, that certain things
    38        have been pre-empted by the federal government, and the
    39        states on down to the city cannot enact legislation.
    40
    Q.   But, essentially, what a state can do, a country can do as
    42        well, can it?
    43        A.  It depends upon the constitution of the state.
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I see.  There we are.
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:  The federal minimum is $4.25; is that right?
    48        A.  It is $4.35.
    49
    50   Q.   $4.35 now.  I do not know whether we need to turn to it, 
    51        but the average hourly rate, I do not know whether you 
    52        remember that, from April 1991 the minimum wage was 
    53        increased to $4.25.  But you think it has been increased
    54        then?
    55        A.  I am sorry, you are right -- $4.25.
    56
    57   Q.   That is right?
    58        A.  Yes.
    59
    60   Q.   It has not gone up since 1st April, 1991?