Day 301 - 15 Nov 96 - Page 48
1 lines 17 to 28. If no one it telling people in managerial
2 positions that they are getting low pay, or felt they are
3 getting low pay, it is because they are frightened to
4 express criticisms. I think -- I can't remember now who it
5 was -- it might have been Frank Stanton, or it might have
6 been someone before that -- who said that no one had ever
7 at any rap session -- and he had taken hundreds or dozens
8 or read hundreds of reports, or whatever it was -- no one
9 had ever mentioned that the issue of low pay, which is -- I
10 am sure is not true, anyway. But -- well, there was a bit
11 of a contradiction there.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which line do you prefer at the moment: do
14 you prefer Frank Stanton's not coming clean, or do you
15 prefer a cowed workforce, or is it somewhere in between,
16 you say?
17
18 MR. MORRIS: I think it is both.
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He is probably not being candid, but there
21 has been a paucity of complaints about the obviously low
22 pay, because you have got a workforce who think they could
23 not do anything about it anyway.
24
25 MR. MORRIS: I do not know. You can draw your own conclusion.
26 I think the thing is that the witnesses from McDonald's
27 tend to adopt a line that they feel is, you know, going to
28 win the point for them, rather than reality; and, to be
29 honest, I think that is a feature of their witnesses and
30 our witnesses -- none of which we had any kind of say or
31 control over at all, they just came and told the truth. If
32 it was contradictory, it is because the truth is
33 contradictory, not because it was a desperate attempt to
34 defend the line.
35
36 I think I have generally finished with Mr. Nicholson's
37 evidence.
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment. (Pause) Yes.
40
41 MR. MORRIS: Can I say that I was going to go on to Mr. Beavers
42 next, but it might be more useful -----
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have no objection to finishing now, rather
45 than quarter to four, if you want. Do you want to just
46 take stock for a moment and see if there is anything more
47 about Mr. Nicholson, or do you want to break off?
48
49 MR. MORRIS: I have nothing on Mr. Nicholson. If I can just
50 say one general point about McDonald's witnesses and our
51 witnesses on this issue -- and I did just touch on it.
52 I think it is significant -- and I have not got the whole
53 list of witnesses in front of me -- that all McDonald's
54 witnesses, maybe bar one or two, were people who either
55 were directly under their control in positions of
56 managerial positions or above, or were in a commercial
57 relationship such as a consultant or something. I think
58 the only person who, technically, seemed to be crew level
59 person was the woman from Seven Sisters -----
60
