Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 34


     
     1        definition of 'low pay' is the decency threshold set at
     2        68 per cent of average earnings in any affiliated
     3        country"?
     4        A.  Yes, it does, my Lord; and in my most recent statement
     5        of 1st March, 1995, it must be -----
     6
     7   MR. MORRIS:  Can you face this way, Mr. Pearson?
     8        A.  I am sorry.  Yes, it does.  They are inter-connected,
     9        these definitions of low pay; and in my statement of
    10        March 1995, paragraph 21, what I try to do is to pull
    11        together the various definitions of low pay which I think,
    12        which I believe, are relevant to the matters under
    13        consideration here.
    14
    15   Q.   What is your own expert opinion on where low pay starts?
    16        A.  Where low pay starts?  The book Twilight Robbery,
    17        written in 1985, refers to definitions that were in the
    18        public policy arena around about that time, 1984.  The TUC
    19        then in 1984 set itself a minimum wage target, as defined
    20        in that extract, two-thirds of the average male earnings.
    21        Why male, men in manual jobs?  Because men earn more than
    22        women.
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I am not sure this has any relevance to
    25        this case.  There is no evidence that women at McDonald's
    26        earn any less than men do.
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:   Of course it is relevant, because it is relevant
    29        to establishing a yardstick.
    30
    31   THE WITNESS:   No, I was not, my Lord, trying to say anything
    32        about McDonald's earnings specifically in this definition.
    33        I am trying to define, explain the target, and then to
    34        relate it to the Council of Europe issue.
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Carry on with that if it is ---
    37        A.  So, I mean, very briefly, if I may -----
    38
    39   Q.   -- by way of explanation.
    40        A.  Thank you.  Just very briefly:  male, because male
    41        earnings are substantially higher than women's; the male
    42        target was used.  Two-thirds of the average, because that
    43        was seen to be a reasonable low paid target and thrown into
    44        the public policy debate by the TUC 1984.
    45
    46   Q.   Just pause there.  (Pause)  How was the two-thirds
    47        reached?  I mean, you just tell me how two-thirds was
    48        reached; and then, at some stage, I would like you to
    49        explain the 68 per cent.  I realise 68 per cent is just
    50        above two-thirds, if one takes two-thirds to be 67 to the 
    51        nearest one per cent. 
    52        A.  The TUC -- why two-thirds? 
    53
    54   Q.   Yes.
    55        A.  It recognises -- the TUC target at that time recognised
    56        wage differentials, that there would inevitably be, based
    57        on skill and qualification and other factors, a spread of
    58        earnings, around an average.  The TUC target is therefore
    59        not to dictate that everyone should be on the same wage,
    60        but that, around the average, there should be a fair

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