Day 301 - 15 Nov 96 - Page 14
1 is only designed to help me decide what, if any, defamatory
2 meaning there is there.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: Yes, what I am saying -----
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have to take my own route on that. At the
7 moment, there is a difference between what Ms. Steel just
8 said and what you said.
9
10 MR. MORRIS: She is saying what the issue is, not the meaning.
11
12 MS. STEEL: I don't think there is a difference between me and
13 Dave, but if you go back up to CaseView, page 11.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which line?
16
17 MS. STEEL: Line 21. If I say this again it is probably the
18 easiest thing. I will say they are doing it for the
19 sake -- that they are exploiting people for low wages and
20 poor conditions in order to make more profits, and to that
21 end they seek to employ people who are going to work for
22 less, or the lowest amount that they can get them to work
23 for, and that it does not matter who they are. But the
24 reality is that those people are the disadvantaged ones in
25 society generally. Also, in order to protect their profits
26 they do not want the workers to unionise to be able to
27 fight for better wages and conditions. That is what I was
28 trying to say. The bit that I said in the middle was not
29 expressed in the best way.
30
31 MR JUSTICE BELL: Very well. (Pause) Let me just read my note.
32 (Pause) Yes.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: Mr. Rampton, in his opening speech, page 45, said:
35 "The issue I pose here is, do the Plaintiffs cynically
36 exploit their workforce for the sake of a fast buck?" Of
37 course the answer to that is, yes, and it is always the
38 addition of the extra words, "cynically exploit their
39 workforce". The point is, "Do the Plaintiffs exploit their
40 workforce for the sake of a fast buck", the answer is, yes;
41 whether they do it cynically, of course they do, does not
42 add anything to the picture, it is just an attempt to raise
43 the stakes to make it more difficult for you to have a
44 judgment in our favour.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Would -----
47
48 MR. MORRIS: He says the same on the next line, "Are the rates
49 of pay unduly low?" Of course they are low, and that is
50 what the leaflet says, and so he is going to argue no
51 doubt, "Oh, well, they are low but are they unduly low?"
52 And again we say that these additions of extra levels is
53 upping the stakes by the Plaintiffs, although of course we
54 would say they are unduly low, but it does again try to
55 raise the stakes to make it more difficult.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Right. I have to transfer that into an
58 argument. You say that there is nothing from which one
59 could impute cynicism there, and there is nothing from
60 which one could impute an allegation that they are unduly
