Day 310 - 04 Dec 96 - Page 14
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So, you say that cannot even be taken into
2 account on justification?
3
4 MR. RAMPTON: It could on justification, yes. It could on
5 justification, certainly. If it were widespread practice
6 at McDonald's, and if the sting of the allegation of fact
7 in the leaflet is that McDonald's treat their workforce
8 badly as a matter of fact, then that would be -----
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Even if it did not come in under "bad pay",
11 it would come in under "bad conditions".
12
13 MR. RAMPTON: "Bad conditions", it certainly would, yes. It
14 would be a salient feature of their bad treatment of their
15 employees.
16
17 There is one point, my Lord, I should make. I submitted,
18 I think, because I have had to by reason of the context,
19 that the phrase or the clause "wages are low and chances"
20 -- sorry -- "workers in catering do badly in terms of pay
21 and conditions. Wages are low". Those are necessarily
22 statements of fact for two reasons, the two reasons which
23 I have given in the submission which I need not repeat
24 here.
25
26 There is one other feature which I have just noticed and I
27 am sorry I did not notice it before. The last part of that
28 paragraph says: "Wages are low and chances of promotion
29 minimal". The latter part of that sentence cannot be a
30 matter of opinion. It is either true or it is not. That
31 tends to suggest to the reader that the assertion that the
32 wages are low in the same sentence is also an assertion of
33 fact. They are both governed by the same word "are" .
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What about asking crew if they are prepared
36 to go home early? That, clearly, can be prayed in aid ---
37
38 MR. RAMPTON: For justification.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- for justification.
41
42 MR. RAMPTON: As far as it goes, yes.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Would it come in if it were comment?
45
46 MR. RAMPTON: No, I do not believe it would, because it cannot
47 fit into long shifts because it is the opposite, and it
48 certainly does not fit into hot, smelly, noisy
49 environments.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, it is only if it were bad pay.
52
53 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. It would be a feature of bad pay if people
54 were being unfairly deprived of what they thought their
55 entitlement ought to be.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But is it something which needs a reference
58 at least for it to be taken into account as to whether
59 comment -----
60
