Day 176 - 19 Oct 95 - Page 02

     
     1                                      Thursday, 19th October, 1995
     2
     3                       MR. IAIN WHITTLE, recalled
     4                    Cross-examined by MR. RAMPTON QC.
     5
     6   MR. RAMPTON:  Could I ask you, please, to find your statement
     7        again?  It is in the large volume like that, with a powder
     8        blue spine and the words "Volume II" on it.  You are at
     9        tab 13.
    10
    11        I have asked you about the first two and a half paragraphs
    12        in that statement.  I want to start, if you will, with the
    13        words on the first page:  "Despite the presence of Asian,
    14        black and Oriental managers, the store was blatantly
    15        racist."   Will you please explain to me carefully what you
    16        mean by those words "blatantly racist" -- "the store was
    17        blatantly racist"?
    18        A.  Yes.  What I mean is, I felt that the ethnic minority
    19        staff were treated worse than the white staff, that white
    20        staff were -- it was acceptable for them to abuse black or
    21        Oriental members of staff; it was seen as a joke; it was
    22        not taken seriously.
    23
    24   Q.   You tell us in the next sentence, the one after that,
    25        rather, that there were non-white managers; is that right?
    26        A.  That is right.
    27
    28   Q.   How many non-white managers were there during your time,
    29        your three years?
    30        A.  Probably four.
    31
    32   Q.   If you can remember, what ethnic groups did they come from?
    33        A.  There was an Afro Caribbean Floor Manager, two Asian
    34        salaried managers, a Chinese Manager.
    35
    36   Q.   Do you remember any names?  You gave us Ganes yesterday?
    37        A.  Ganes -- it is a god, I think.
    38
    39   Q.   He is indeed; he is an elephant god.  Ganes, is that what
    40        it is?
         A.  That is right, yes.  G-A-N-E-S.
    42
    43   Q.   Thank you.  Any other names?
    44        A.  One of the Asian managers was called Harish, I think,
    45        and the Chinese Manager was called Simon.
    46
    47   Q.   Were these Asian managers guilty of persecuting people from
    48        the ethnic minorities?
    49        A.  I think they -- when problems were raised with them,
    50        they tried to pooh-pooh it.  I felt they were aware that 
    51        this went on, but they did not really want to be bothered 
    52        with it. 
    53
    54   Q.   Well, Mr. Whittle, surely, if racial abuse of people, staff
    55        crew members from ethnic minorities was habitual, these
    56        Floor Managers must surely have known about it, must they
    57        not?
    58        A.  I am saying I am sure they did know about it, but
    59        I think they were more worried about their position in the
    60        Company than worrying what went on amongst the crew