Day 302 - 18 Nov 96 - Page 22
1 deliberately put it about or not.
2
3 He also said on day 4, page 72 -- I put it him, John Cook
4 has been - this is line 6 - has been described as the
5 architect of the corporation's policies with regards to
6 labour practices and trade unions. "Would you say that is a
7 fair description of him?" Answer: "Yes" , and he had
8 actually said that he had spoken to John Cook in the '70s.
9 So the point was, again, that reinforces our view that the
10 evidence is that policies were set up, you know, in the
11 early days, that were designed to be global in reach, in
12 effect, and also to be set for the future, and that would
13 apply today wherever possible.
14
15 That is all I have got for Mr. Beavers. I had a thought
16 about unions, I have just lost it now. (Pause)
17
18 Now, I am just going to touch on some other matters and
19 then I am going to go on to Mr. Pearson, which I will have
20 to do from the transcript because I have not got separate
21 notes, although I have identified the bits of transcript.
22 Actually, I did not mention with Mr. Nicholson, there is a
23 few other bits, that he did actually say -- I am not sure
24 if I quoted this -- "that pay would be one of the things
25 that is often mentioned" when staff were asked about what
26 improvements they would like at McDonald's. But, I mean,
27 it is not really surprising.
28
29 I am doing a few bits and pieces now, then I will come on
30 to Mr. Pearson. If I can point out, in terms of pay, that
31 to achieve a 10 pence rise-----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: This is just general comment, is it, not
34 Mr. Nicholson?
35
36 MR. MORRIS: It was put to Mr. Nicholson.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Very well.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: But this will not be controversial, that the
41 criteria for attaining a 10 pence per hour wage increase
42 because of a performance review was to get over 87 percent
43 in the tests, which meant that performance consistently
44 exceeds job requirements and expectations. So,
45 effectively, if you do your job you are not going to get
46 more than a five pence per hour wage rise in the company
47 unless you consistently exceed job requirement.
48
49 Another thing I was going to just mention that was brought
50 up with Mr. Nicholson, was that we had figures as recently
51 as 1993 showing two to three under eighteens, I think it
52 was in London and the southeast, were showing up on company
53 records as working in excess of 96 hours in a fortnight,
54 which, until 1990, was illegal. I think it was 1990. It
55 might have been when the changes were made in 1987. I am
56 not sure, the point was, it is, it was, illegal because it
57 is not fair to make people work such long hours at such a
58 young age. So whether it is illegal or not is immaterial,
59 it should not happen.
60
