Day 172 - 12 Oct 95 - Page 36
1 upon which I am working, because it is going to crop up
2 again at some stage. So I will explain what I understand
3 the principle to be, and then I will go through each of the
4 ones.
5
6 MR. MORRIS: Yes. Well, OK.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So you have really said what you want to
9 say. Do say some more if you like about that middle of the
10 sentence on page 2.
11
12 MR. MORRIS: Yes, OK. The next one is on page 3: "However all
13 the employees considered themselves very much underpaid."
14 This is something that may have been told by individuals;
15 it might have been the general opinion of all the staff
16 amongst discussions amongst themselves; it may have been
17 coming out of rap session that was a specific complaint.
18 In fact, we have even heard from McDonald's own witnesses
19 on the complaints about pay being standard at rap
20 sessions. So I submit that that should stay in.
21
22 Then at the bottom of that page: "The majority of employees
23 worked well over the 39 hours a week specified in the
24 Handbook. The limit was a joke. Most people did not
25 object to working over 39 hours because they needed the
26 money. A few people at the store even did 24 hour shifts."
27 On the 39 hours per week, that could have been clearly seen
28 on the schedules and, presumably, he is talking about
29 majority of full-time employees rather than all the
30 employees. "A few people at the store even did 24 hour
31 shifts" -- this on page 4 at the top -- he refers to -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment.
34
35 MR. MORRIS: Sorry. He refers to this on page -----
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause. I am making a note. Where have
38 you gone to now?
39
40 MR. MORRIS: Page 1 of the supplementary statement, continuation
41 statement.
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: At the moment, I am minded to think that at
44 the bottom of page 3, "The majority of the employees worked
45 well over the 39 hours per week specified in the Handbook",
46 can stay in because, as you say, it may have come from
47 seeing what was on schedules. "The limit was a joke" is
48 just a way of saying it was observed more in breach,
49 etcetera. I do not think the supplement, the first
50 paragraph on the first page of the supplement, changes
51 that. But why people did not object seems to me can only
52 be hearsay if one looks at page 1: "The reason I know that
53 other people did it was because it was common knowledge."
54 I have difficulty with your common knowledge point, because
55 that still takes you back to where it comes from -- and
56 "that they told me". So at the moment my inclination is
57 to keep in from "the majority" to "a joke", have out from
58 "most people" to "the money", and have in the last
59 sentence. All these, when I say have matters in, that is
60 all subject to the question of what weight should be
