Day 152 - 11 Jul 95 - Page 49
1 in a slightly different way.
2
3 I do ask you to put it to Mr. Davis. If when we come to
4 Mr. Preston you want to put it in the same form or in a
5 different form, then by all means do that.
6
7 Let us leave it there because it is the sort of matter
8 which is but one point in a very large case and we could
9 discuss it forever.
10
11 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, can I just add this, in justice and if
12 counsel were on the other side, he would actually have been
13 obliged to formulate his case at the beginning or before
14 the case began and to put it to those of my witnesses that
15 were in a position to deal with it.
16 A certain latitude for litigants in person who like to move
17 the goal posts as the case proceeds is naturally
18 understandable.
19
20 My impression is the same as your Lordship's with this
21 additional feature, that the Defendants attribute what they
22 call high turnover largely to dissatisfaction amongst the
23 crew members. Mr. Davis is a very senior Operations
24 person. In fact, he is in a position to know, first of
25 all, whether the Company welcomes a high turnover and,
26 secondly, whether that high turnover is in any significant
27 way to be attributed to dissatisfaction amongst the crew
28 which is why I have asked him the questions that I have.
29
30 MS. STEEL: I just want to say, I think it is McDonald's who are
31 moving the goal posts throughout this case. We are in a
32 position where I can say (and I was willing to say) what
33 the situation is as regards turnover. I just wanted to
34 reserve the right of whether to bring this up with
35 Mr. Davis or to bring it up with some other witness,
36 depending upon who we think is the most appropriate person
37 to bring it up with. I have no problem in saying what the
38 situation is.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I know. I do think you should put it to
41 Mr. Davis because he is someone who has held a position as
42 a Manager, an Area Supervisor and now his present
43 position. He has been, on his own account of matters,
44 thoroughly involved in Operations for something like 12
45 years. He seems to me, quite frankly, an ideal person to
46 put it to in the Operations on the ground capacity. By all
47 means put it to Mr. Preston as Senior Executive as well.
48
49 MR. RAMPTON (To the witness): Mr. Davis, a few other things
50 before I leave pay and hours and go on to something else.
51 First of all, performance reviews: In your time as the
52 Manager and earlier the Assistant Manager of Colchester,
53 how often were performance reviews conducted for crew
54 members?
55 A. I believe performance reviews were conducted, firstly,
56 after a three week probationary review, and then every
57 eight weeks after that. Every other one of those
58 performance reviews would be a pay review.
59
60 Q. A pay review?
