Day 207 - 23 Jan 96 - Page 45
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I was an advocate, I might be doing the
3 same thing to try to bias the judge in my favour, but that
4 is another matter altogether.
5
6 MR. MORRIS: Of course, we would never do that ourselves. The
7 point is, though, that these are evidence that there were
8 complaints on a number of matters in the McDonald's chosen
9 system for allowing their employees to air their
10 grievances. So, this is evidence that complaints were
11 being made ---
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: -- and how McDonald's responded to them is -- we
16 are asking the witness.
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I take that point. What you must be very
19 careful is that you do not go on and say: "This is
20 evidence that the complaints are true", because if one was
21 standing in the street and you got complaint after
22 complaint after complaint, you might be tempted to say that
23 there is no smoke without fire, but, as a judge, I do not
24 think I can say that.
25
26 MS. STEEL: I understand the point, but I think they are also
27 relevant to the point that Mr. Logan has made these
28 complaints himself and the Company is saying that these
29 things are not a problem.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We will see where we get to with Mr. Logan.
32 You have obviously got it in mind but keep it in mind.
33
34 MS. STEEL: Yes.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would invite you always to ask, even if you
37 end up getting the wrong answer: "Do you agree that was
38 the state of affairs?"
39
40 MS. STEEL: I do not mind doing that, although it is probably
41 something of a waste of time.
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But, you see, if you get the right answer, it
44 does provide you with actual admissible evidence of the
45 fact.
46
47 MS. STEEL: Yes. (To the witness): If you just look at page
48 232 which is 17th June 1994, rap session, about the middle
49 of the page, in fact, just above "General Barometers", is:
50 "What do you think are the main reasons why crew leave
51 McDonald's?" It says: "Hours, pressure and poor treatment
52 and unkept promises". Would you accept that?
53 A. No, I would not accept that crew are put under pressure
54 and treated poorly. Hours, I do not know what they mean by
55 "hours" in this question.
56
57 Q. If it was long hours -----
58 A. I mean, long hours, short hours, I mean, I do not
59 really ......
60
