Day 259 - 10 Jun 96 - Page 34
1 A. Yes.
2
3 Q. It was not something you had to explain?
4 A. No, no.
5
6 Q. Was it apparent to you that he did understand it?
7 A. Very much so. He was very articulate.
8
9 Q. He was articulate?
10 A. Very, yes.
11
12 Q. Just one final thing. In paragraph 4, you remember you
13 said, perhaps one occasion when he said he was
14 investigating a complaint, he investigated, and then said
15 that he was satisfied; is that right?
16 A. That is right, yes.
17
18 Q. Racking your brains as best you can, going back as far as
19 1981 or 1982, do you think there might have been other
20 occasions when he said, "Look, I have had a specific
21 complaint. I want to look into it"?
22 A. That was part of his job as a wages inspector. People
23 were able to approach him to say that they were either
24 unhappy or perhaps concerned that their wages were not
25 being calculated correctly, not just within McDonald's, but
26 lots of other large companies.
27
28 Q. I understand that. You, as a McDonald's person, saw him,
29 as you say, roughly twice a year over a seven year period,
30 six year period. Can you remember how frequently he would
31 say, "Look, I have had a complaint. I have to look into
32 it"?
33 A. Very infrequently; and he always made a joke that for a
34 company the size of McDonald's, he was surprised that he
35 did not get more, but he did not.
36
37 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Pearce. Please remain
38 there, so the Defendants can ask you questions.
39
40 Cross-examined by the Defendants
41
42 MR. MORRIS: It is a bit surprising that he did get more
43 complaints, is it not?
44 A. Is that a question?
45
46 Q. It is surprising that he did not get more complaints, is it
47 not?
48 A. I do not think so.
49
50 Q. Did you pass on information that you had received from
51 stores about improper activities carried out at store
52 level?
53 A. What sort of improper activities?
54
55 Q. About under-18s working illegal hours; about people maybe
56 not being paid for all the hours they worked -- apparently,
57 some substantial part of crew members, we have seen in the
58 documents, believed they do not get paid for all the hours
59 they work, in one of the employee surveys -- people working
60 very long hours, that kind of stuff? Did you pass on that
