Day 181 - 01 Nov 95 - Page 11


     
     1   Q.   Absolutely.
     2        A.  But the sufficiency issue, my opinion would be that a
     3        bun would be very marginal, very marginal.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is a matter for me, I am afraid.
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:  Right.  Just one other thing about this.  I mean, on
     8        page 639 it does say: "Where a worker is not supplied by
     9        the employer with either full board and lodging or meals
    10        whilst on duty, the rates of pay in (1) above shall be
    11        increased by ú2.36 per hour for the first 39 hours worked
    12        by him in any week."
    13
    14        The figure of ú2.36 an hour, was there kind of any
    15        comparable figure in terms of how much should be available
    16        to be spent on a meal?  For example, we have heard that at
    17        McDonald's (certainly in some stores) there was a specific
    18        hourly allowance where if you worked one hour you were
    19        entitled to -- this is not the right figure -- something
    20        like 40 or 50 pence towards a meal.  Would there be a
    21        figure for that, or should it have been ú2.36 or -----
    22        A.  It is 2.36 pence per hour.
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  2.36 pence?
    25        A.  Yes.  Sorry.  It is 2.36 pence; and if you multiply
    26        that by 39, that does not amount to a great deal of money.
    27
    28   Q.   It surprised me.  I mean, it is actually less than ú1?
    29        A.  Yes, my Lord.  The point that was always made, though,
    30        is that you were talking about marginal cost pricing with
    31        staff meals; especially in the larger catering units, you
    32        would be producing hundreds and hundreds of meals a day.
    33        So the marginal cost to the Company providing staff food
    34        would be the basis on which this calculation was made; not
    35        the average cost, but the marginal cost.  I am only an
    36        amateur economist, but marginal cost means the price of the
    37        last ones rather than the average price.
    38
    39   MR JUSTICE BELL:  I know we get into deep water, which I do not
    40        think it is necessary to here.
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:  I have not got many further questions; just a
    43        couple of questions from your statement.  You have said
    44        that you had visited McDonald's workers when you were
    45        recruiting for the union on a number of occasions?
    46        A.  That is true.
    47
    48   Q.   In general, can you say -- we are talking about
    49        specifically McDonald's workers -- what was the kind of
    50        response that you experienced? 
    51        A.  The response was -- well, where did we go?  We went to 
    52        Warren Street, we went to Narrow Way in Hackney, we went to 
    53        a place in Queensway -- Inner London locations, a number of
    54        them, over that period 1986/1987, supported by individuals
    55        from the International Workers branch, as I said earlier;
    56        and we would turn up.  There would be catering workers
    57        lobbying catering workers.  It was not people like me in
    58        suits; it was staff in the industry contacting staff in
    59        another part of the industry.  You would have a chef, you
    60        would have waiting staff, you would have bar staff, outside

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