Day 139 - 21 Jun 95 - Page 48
1 for us. As indicated here, it was an isolated incident.
2
3 Q. What happens when your McDonald's people are inspecting the
4 books and find violations of, for example, child labour
5 laws?
6 A. They would immediately bring it to the attention of the
7 owner/operator, and they would tell the owner/operator that
8 he needs to fix the matter right away, and then they would
9 follow up to make sure that the right compliance has taken
10 place.
11
12 Q. If the owner/operator carried on not giving young people
13 breaks, or working them long hours, or something like that,
14 what action would the Company take?
15 A. We would alert the authorities.
16
17 Q. Has that ever happened?
18 A. Yes, it has.
19
20 Q. When was that?
21 A. It goes back maybe a dozen years or so actually. It
22 would go back to about 1975, maybe 1976.
23
24 Q. So since that time ----
25
26 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, Mr. Atkinson, I apologise for this, has
27 drawn attention to the possibility that there is somebody
28 in the court towards the back that may be attempting to
29 distract the witness. I am not sure whether that is right,
30 I have not observed it myself.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Have you noticed that?
33 A. Not really.
34
35 MR. RAMPTON: By imitating him?
36 A. I just ignore them, my Lord.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I had not noticed anything myself.
39
40 MR. RAMPTON: Your Lordship has a better point advantage than us
41 certainly for that, but if it were so, it must stop.
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let us carry on for the moment. If you are
44 disturbed by anything, whether you think intentional or
45 accidental, say so.
46
47 MS. STEEL: Since that time, has there not been any instances
48 that the Company has been aware of?
49 A. No, not at all. I remember that one very well, but no
50 there has not. Our operators want to do the right thing,
51 do the right thing. If they do something wrong, it is
52 inadvertent and if it is brought to their attention, they
53 will fix it. This one particular operator had a variety of
54 problems including that one.
55
56 Q. Sorry, I meant breaches that you had discovered?
57 A. Yes. We have never had a problem other than the one I
58 have mentioned with operators sincerely wanting to fix it.
59
60 MR. MORRIS: If we move on to Puerto Rico. It is page 10 of
