Day 175 - 18 Oct 95 - Page 26
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Mr. Rampton, I want what I am about to say
2 transcribed as a separate ruling or direction. I do not
3 resile at all from anything I said in my two judgments last
4 year as to my power or otherwise to order your clients to
5 provide transcripts, but I would like you to consider with
6 them whether it would be beneficial that the Defendants be
7 provided with a transcript of this ruling. I do not
8 propose to delay it in order to word process so that I can
9 hand down a word processed version. It is entirely a
10 matter for you.
11
12 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I hear that. Would your Lordship also
13 think it, if necessary, a correct thing for us to do to
14 supply transcripts of all rulings which the Defendants do
15 not so far have?
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you choose to do that, I would certainly
18 welcome it. I made the legal position, as I saw, it quite
19 clear last term.
20
21 MR. RAMPTON: Yes; and the Court of Appeal agreed with that.
22
23 (See separate transcript for ruling)
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I suggest, Mr. Morris, you call Mr. Whittle
26 and we will see how we go. You come back into the witness
27 box.
28
29 IAIN WHITTLE, recalled
30 Examination by the Defendants, continued
31
32 MR. MORRIS: Have you got your statement in front of you?
33 A. Yes, I have.
34
35 Q. The first paragraph about your being interviewed for the
36 job and being advised that McDonald's had not recognised
37 trade unions, could you just give some explanation of what
38 you mean?
39 A. Well, when I went for the first interview, the Manager
40 who interviewed me talked about the job, what it involved,
41 and told me that there were no unions at McDonald's, they
42 did not recognise them and they were unnecessary, because
43 they sorted out all grievances, and staff who deserved to
44 be paid better or promoted were; and the way it was said
45 gave me the impression that unions were not a thing to talk
46 about or mention. I felt as if it was a way of saying:
47 "Don't, you know, unions, that is the end of it".
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment. Yes.
50
51 MR. MORRIS: Just something about the job that you did there.
52 You were there for three years. Can you just say what
53 position you reached, that kind of stuff, what kind of
54 responsibilities you had?
55 A. I became a member of the store's training squad, so
56 I was one of the people responsible for looking after new
57 people, showing them the various jobs and tasks involved;
58 and that meant as well that I would sometimes run a part of
59 the store during a shift, be responsible for an area of the
60 store.
