Day 124 - 10 May 95 - Page 31
1 was charged with the introduction of that Bill at the time?
2 A. I would assume that that would be true. I do not think
3 that would be in the book if that part of it were not true,
4 but I cannot say that the account of it is accurate.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. Just keeping it in generalities, the
7 youth differential would be in McDonald's financial
8 interest in that it employed a significant number of young
9 people under 18, and it would mean that the minimum they
10 could pay by law would be less than it would otherwise be,
11 is that right so far?
12 A. That is a fair -- it would mean that employers like
13 McDonald's utilizing the features of this Bill could, in
14 fact, hire more young people because of -----
15
16 Q. Very well. That is another way of putting it. But
17 McDonald's did utilize features of the Bill, in fact, did
18 it?
19 A. I would think that we did. It made good sense to do
20 so.
21
22 Q. Putting at its very lowest, paid some 16 and 17 year olds
23 less than the minimum, what the minimum would have been but
24 for the differential?
25 A. But for the differential, and it was, as I recall, it
26 was for a very short period of time. It was to encourage
27 employers to hire young people. I guess the unemployment
28 rate, particularly in the summer, was pretty high for young
29 people and it was a way of encouraging employers to add
30 young people to their workforce. Employers like McDonald's
31 which had a high percentage of young people would,
32 obviously, benefit from that.
33
34 Q. I am not drawing any conclusion one way or the other for or
35 against McDonald's, certainly at the moment, but it would
36 be in character for John Ehlrenborn in the light of the
37 County he represented to promote something which was in
38 McDonald's interest or thought to be in McDonald's
39 interest?
40 A. I would characterise Mr. Ehlrenborn as being
41 pro-business. He was supportive of lowering the
42 unemployment rate, and my recollection of John Ehlrenborn
43 is that he was a good friend of McDonald's. When I moved
44 to Illinois, the town that I reside in, resided in, was in
45 his district.
46
47 Q. Yes, thank you.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: I have come to a sort of natural break. If you
50 like, I could ask a couple more questions.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. We will adjourn until 2 o'clock.
53
54 (Luncheon adjournment)
55
56 MR. MORRIS: I am just going to deal with a few bits and pieces
57 that are unrelated to each other. The Hazelton
58 laboratories that have done research for McDonald's on
59 their analysis of their products, yes? Are you aware that
60 they do or they have done the nutritional analysis of
