Day 181 - 01 Nov 95 - Page 63
1 well.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not even know at the moment whether
4 Mr. Jenssen is going to give one jot of additional evidence
5 to that which appears in his statement. I will deal with
6 the problem, if there is a problem, when I know what, if
7 anything, he is going to deal with. I have let you ask
8 Mr. Pearson about a number of matters which were neither in
9 his statement nor in the note which Mr. Morris gave the
10 other day which referred to overtime and performance
11 related pay, because I was interested in what he could do
12 which might help me on a number of topics, but you must
13 read again the ruling I have made. It is a ruling.
14
15 If you do not like it, you must seek leave to appeal and go
16 to the Court of Appeal to try to override it. I do not
17 make rulings -- I am not getting at you -- just so that we
18 can argue the toss about them a week later.
19
20 So the best thing to do would be to adjourn now and get
21 talking to Mr. Jenssen.
22
23 MR. MORRIS: Yes, I am going to do that. I would like just to
24 inform you what the schedule is, where we have got new
25 people added to the schedule.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have to say that I think with regard to
28 trade unions, having read the leaflet, I am not suggesting
29 that Mr. Jenssen's evidence in his statement is not
30 relevant, I think it is towards the periphery in this case
31 in the light of all the other evidence you have got for me
32 to assess, to decide what I accept and, more importantly,
33 to decide what conclusions I draw from the evidence which
34 I accept.
35
36 This is not a press conference about McDonald's employment
37 practices. It is a question of me hearing the evidence and
38 making relevant findings as they relate to the leaflet and
39 the issues which arise from it.
40
41 MR. MORRIS: I agree that, you know, all our witnesses are being
42 called because they are witnesses of fact about relevant
43 points. We had three months of McDonald's employment
44 witnesses, most of which I would describe as propaganda,
45 but we are not trying to counter their propaganda with
46 propaganda of our own. We are calling what we see as
47 relevant witnesses of fact about their specific experiences
48 and, at the end of the day, it is for yourself to decide.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have said what I have said. I am not going
51 to say any more unless it appears that I am prejudging the
52 issue one way or the other on various topics because I am
53 not. I keep on open mind right until the end of the day.
54 I would have thought, quite frankly, if you put
55 Mr. Jenssen's statement in and asked him to verify that,
56 you would have got what is important from Mr. Jenssen.
57
58 MR. MORRIS: I will bear that in mind.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Bear that in mind. Go away and talk to
