Day 173 - 16 Oct 95 - Page 50
1 Irish Transport and General Workers Union, dated
2 7th March 1979, referring to their previous letter
3 requesting a meeting and noting that they have not received
4 a reply, and then saying: "As a result, we have now been
5 instructed by our members to serve seven days' strike
6 notice in pursuance of their claim. The withdrawal of
7 labour will take effect as and from finishing time on
8 Thursday, 15th March. In the meantime we are available to
9 meet you for the purpose of resolving the dispute."
10
11 It has at the bottom there "copy to Steve Copeland". So
12 you sent off a copy to Steve Copeland as soon as you got
13 that, did you?
14 A. Well, I sent a copy of it to Steve Copeland. I could
15 not tell you when it was sent to him, whether it was right
16 away or not. But I responded to him by letter.
17
18 Q. A week later, on the following page. You say -- this is a
19 letter dated 14th March, 1979 -- "I have been unable to
20 reach you by telephone this week. Due to a very busy
21 schedule and business trips out of the country, I have not
22 been able to get back to you before now."
23
24 Were you out of the country all week?
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: When you say you sent a copy to
27 Steve Copeland, is that your writing, that a copy should go
28 to him?
29 A. No.
30
31 Q. Or was it on the letter when it arrived, that the union had
32 sent a copy to him?
33 A. No. First of all, my Lord, it is not my writing.
34
35 Q. Do you think it is a direction from your office or from the
36 union -- because if you see "CC" on a letter, it normally
37 means that the person who has written it has sent a carbon
38 copy to the person known.
39 A. Yes.
40
41 Q. But are you accepting in this instance that it means that
42 someone at your company had sent a copy to Mr. Copeland?
43 A. I think it was somebody in my company who sent it to
44 Mr. Copeland, my Lord.
45
46 MS. STEEL: Were you out of the country for the whole of the
47 week between the 8th and 14th March?
48 A. I cannot recall how long I was away for, but I was
49 certainly away for some days.
50
51 Q. You could not get your -- you could not dictate a letter to
52 your secretary and get her to send a reply off to the
53 union?
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Ms. Steel, where are you going? I am trying
56 to help you. I put a suggestion to the witness who
57 accepted that he was trying to keep his head down, so far
58 as the unions were concerned. No matter how many questions
59 you ask about whether he answered or did not answer
60 letters, you are not going to do better than that. You may
