Day 151 - 10 Jul 95 - Page 05
1 you said, well, you know, there is no way anyone would work
2 for less than the starting rate?
3 A. No. I think, in the context of that discussion that we
4 had, it was to do with people returning, either from end of
5 term or from whatever break they may have had, a relatively
6 short break. I think I may have said then people, in my
7 opinion, perhaps would have refused to have started work
8 below a particular rate, depending on what rate they left
9 and their level of experience.
10
11 Q. So, they would feel a sense of injustice if they did?
12 A. I have not come across it, but -----
13
14 Q. Yes. All the fun and the training and all the other things
15 that McDonald's claim to be benefits would not be any kind
16 of compensation for basically getting the wages that
17 someone felt they were entitled to?
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can you put what you are suggesting, what
20 sort of rate they are going to come back at? I have a
21 difficulty with "starting below the starting rate", because
22 I do not see how that is possible. I understand the
23 question of coming back at less than you were being paid
24 before, which was the context of the questions, as I recall
25 it. But, I mean, is this not a matter of individual
26 preference?
27
28 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness) Have you ever known anybody, in
29 all your time at McDonald's, say: "I am not really
30 bothered about the wages I get. I am here for the fun and
31 the training"?
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You do not need to ask a question like that.
34 No doubt there are certain locations where people just are
35 not interested in what they are being paid, but McDonald's
36 have never suggested that their work force is not
37 interested in its rate of pay.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness) You said that when you were at
40 Leicester, if people were expected to work less than the
41 starting rate, you said they would refuse to do that; and
42 you said there were plenty of other opportunities in
43 Leicester, people would go elsewhere. Do you remember
44 saying that?
45 A. In the context of people returning to work after having
46 worked for me previously, then I believe I must have said
47 something -----
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I thought it was in the context of rates of
50 pay generally, that if McDonald's was not paying enough,
51 there were plenty of other people they could work for?
52 A. Right, yes.
53
54 MR. MORRIS: Yes. I mean, at the time there was something like,
55 I believe, 4 million unemployed in this country. Did
56 Leicester have any kind of different unemployment rate,
57 unusually, from the rest of the country, so far as you
58 know?
59 A. I would not have known.
60
