Day 150 - 07 Jul 95 - Page 47
1 give them a break during the rap session to come along or,
2 if not, if they are unavailable voluntary or, sort of,
3 voluntary or involuntary, then to speak to people who were
4 going along to the rap session to make sure.
5
6 Q. Do you consider that satisfactory notice was given of rap
7 sessions?
8 A. Yes, I think generally we used to get it at least a
9 month in advance because I would have to do my schedule at
10 least a month in advance, and so to plan it all in they
11 would -- if anything, it is probably even out every
12 quarter, so everyone was given sufficient notice. In fact,
13 I would phone the restaurant as soon as the time came out
14 to arrange, because it may say: "A rap session is due in
15 the month of", and then to tie down a specific date and
16 time I would contact the restaurant. So it was in my own
17 interests as well to make sure it was well in advance.
18
19 Q. You talked to some extent about the circumstances in which
20 people were selected, or whatever, or selected themselves,
21 or whatever, to go along?
22 A. Yes.
23
24 Q. Was there any sort of management policy which said, "But
25 certain people will be black listed; there are certain
26 people who are not going to be allowed to come to rap
27 sessions because they are trouble makers", or whatever,
28 just for the sake of argument?
29 A. No.
30
31 Q. Conversely, was there some sort of policy that said:
32 "Those who are particularly obliging" -- whatever that
33 means -- but "particularly obliging, they are the ones that
34 must come along and anyone else must be excluded"?
35 A. No. My experience is -- I mean, this is not a perfect
36 world, so to speak, so people are always going to find
37 things to say, perhaps in a critical format, "The managers
38 need to buy more bun spatulas or, "They need to spend more
39 on", and so there are some things that -- crew have said to
40 me, "We need to have a sauna, for example, in the changing
41 room". So there are some sort of impractical thing which
42 you cannot do.
43
44 I have had rap sessions with people of very outspoken
45 views, but it is my job to try and rationalise those views
46 and make sure they are the feelings of the restaurant to
47 make it constructive. Although it might start out
48 negative, the idea is at the end of the day to find out
49 what is behind it. So, if anything, I would perhaps even
50 be cynical if it was all lovely and rosy because, as
51 I mentioned, it is not perfect and people are always
52 finding things that they would like to say about it and
53 that is the opportunity.
54
55 Q. I will just ask one question. My Lord, I have almost
56 finished.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Finish rap sessions if you can and then
59 I just want to ask one thing about the list on the Notice
60 Board. If you think you will go on for more than two or
