Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 33


     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  I am going to come onto the subject of pay,
     2        Mr. Pearson.  Now, you have said in your first statement
     3        that, "The Council of Europe" -- sorry, this is point 9
     4        -- "The Council of Europe's definition of 'low pay' is the
     5        decency threshold set at less than 68 per cent of average
     6        earnings in any affiliated country."  I am not sure if you
     7        have your first statement there.
     8
     9        If we go to the document that is behind your statement, or
    10        should be in there, which is an extract from your book
    11        Twilight Robbery -- it should be behind your statement, a
    12        two-page document.
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is pale blue volume II, divider 9.
    15
    16   MR. MORRIS:  I have actually got an original copy of the book
    17        here, if you want to look at that.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let us see how we do in the bundle.
    20
    21   THE WITNESS:  I have got divider 9.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Then, if you go behind your second statement,
    24        there are some pages of Philip Pearson's Twilight Robbery.
    25
    26   MR. MORRIS:  Is it not there?  Maybe I can hand up your book.
    27        I am sure you are familiar with it.  It is pages 14 and
    28        15.  Do you know when that book was produced?
    29        A.  In 1987.  I cannot remember.  1988.
    30
    31   Q.   1986 you say in your statement.
    32        A.  It is 1985, actually.
    33
    34   Q.   OK.
    35        A.  Sorry.
    36
    37   Q.   In your book, you say, on page 14: "7 million on low
    38        wages.  Most definitions of low pay agree with the minimum
    39        wage target set by the TUC that no worker, male or female,
    40        should earn less than two-thirds of the average wage of men
    41        in manual jobs."  Then it goes on with some figures.  In
    42        1984, it was £147 a week which was the average wage for men
    43        in manual work.  The TUC minimum wage target was £2.45 per
    44        hour at that stage; that was 1984.
    45
    46        You, later on in the paragraph, over the page, on page 15,
    47        talked about the Council of Europe decency threshold.  That
    48        is in the middle of the first paragraph on page 15, middle
    49        sentence: "The Council of Europe have established a decency
    50        threshold of earnings to give workers and their dependants 
    51        a reasonable standard of living.  Their formula is that no 
    52        wage should be less than 68 per cent of average earnings in 
    53        Britain" -- which in January 1984 would have been about
    54        £106 a week.
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Again, are they gross figures?
    57        A.  They are gross figures.
    58
    59   MR. MORRIS:  Does that accord with what you have said in your
    60        statement on point 9 about "the Council of Europe's

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