Day 302 - 18 Nov 96 - Page 09


     
     1        they like, helping thereby to depress wages in the catering
     2        trade, just a couple of thoughts on that.  Obviously, we
     3        have heard how McDonald's wage increases while there was a
     4        minimum wage had to go up because the minimum wage went
     5        up.  Sorry, their starting rate had to go up.  And then it
     6        seems to have got frozen, or virtually frozen, to minute
     7        increases of, you know, five pence or whatever, since the
     8        wage councils were abolished, which is exactly the point
     9        being made in the fact sheet.
    10
    11        And where it says 'helping thereby to depress wages in the
    12        catering trade', we have heard how the catering trade
    13        confidentially share wage information and, for example, we
    14        have heard from Phil Pearson, and I will come to that, his
    15        evidence, about how, for example, I think it was Pizza Hut
    16        actually deliberately positioned themselves in the -- I
    17        think it was -- top quintile, because the companies set
    18        themselves a kind of level compared to the others in the
    19        trade where they are going to pitch their wage levels, and,
    20        as we know, McDonald's wage levels are at the bottom of
    21        that low paid industry.
    22
    23        Therefore, what one company does, although it is obviously
    24        common sense anyway, what one company does it will affect
    25        how the others set their own wage levels.  Obviously a
    26        company as huge and important as McDonald's there will be,
    27        you know, a note taken about what they are doing, whatever
    28        it is, in particular.
    29
    30        As regards meaning 'P', 'they are only interested in
    31        recruiting cheap labour and to this end disadvantaged
    32        groups, women and black people especially'.  That, of
    33        course, was not the Plaintiffs' case when it was put at the
    34        beginning of the trial about implying that we are saying
    35        that McDonald's discriminate against disadvantaged groups,
    36        in fact, but if you look at the meaning 'P', they are
    37        recognising our position, which is that the leaflet says
    38        that in order to get cheap labour they exploit, i.e., hire,
    39        disadvantaged groups, which would include young people,
    40        clearly, from the leaflet, young people, women and black
    41        people.  Because obviously they are the people that are
    42        available on the market for the low wage jobs.
    43
    44        So that is what the leaflet says, that they are
    45        discriminating in society, because, you know, they do not
    46        have as much power and say as other groups in society and
    47        at the same time they are discriminating in industry
    48        because they get the low paid jobs.  Not because we are
    49        saying that McDonald's somehow treat them worse than they
    50        treat their other workers; just they form, you know, a
    51        substantial percentage of McDonald's workers.  If you
    52        include young people, obviously we are talking about
    53        two-thirds or so of their workforce, which is an absolute
    54        staggering proportion considering the proportion of young
    55        people in the workforce as a whole.
    56
    57        So that is some thoughts on the meanings.
    58
    59        The point in the last paragraph about 'the truth is
    60        McDonald's are only interested in recruiting cheap labour',

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