Day 259 - 10 Jun 96 - Page 57


     
     1        responsible for liaising with are the ones at McDonald's in
     2        this period of time?
     3        A.  Wages Inspectorate visits, yes.
     4
     5   Q.   Yes.  So you have no idea whether Mr. Mills was competent
     6        or incompetent at all, in comparison to other wage
     7        inspectors?
     8        A.  Each wages inspector is given a patch, if you like, and
     9        he always had our particular area under his wing.  So it
    10        would not have been daunting for us had we received another
    11        inspector; it was just that he was given our area to do.
    12
    13   Q.   But you have no way of evaluating his competence in
    14        comparison to other wage inspectors?
    15        A.  He was a very professional man, and he was very
    16        competent.  I have no reason to doubt his competence at
    17        all.
    18
    19   Q.   But you have -----
    20        A.  He also then had to go back to his office and make a
    21        report.  He had superiors to whom he reported.  So,
    22        presumably, had he been in incompetent, they would have
    23        sent somebody more competent.
    24
    25   Q.   But you said you never saw those reports?
    26        A.  They were not for McDonald's to view.  They were, you
    27        know, the wages -----
    28
    29   Q.   So you do not know if the reports were competently done or
    30        not?
    31        A.  I am absolutely sure that if he was incompetent, they
    32        would have sent somebody more superior or more competent.
    33        We were a very large organisation, so he was a senior
    34        member of that particular office.
    35
    36   Q.   What was his exact position, then?
    37        A.  He was a wages inspector.
    38
    39   Q.   That was his position?
    40        A.  I do not know the hierarchy appertaining to the
    41        Wages Council.
    42
    43   Q.   So you do not know if he was senior or not?
    44        A.  He would have had to have been there -----
    45
    46   Q.   You are assuming that?
    47        A.  No, I do not assume anything.  He was there for very
    48        many years which, in my opinion, makes him a senior
    49        person.  He had been there for very many years; and the
    50        very fact that they had designated him to McDonald's makes 
    51        him a senior person, because it was quite a complex payroll 
    52        system to get round; they would not have sent a junior 
    53        person.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:  How do you know he had been there very many years?
    56        A.  He told me.
    57
    58   MR. MORRIS:  The reality is, is it not, he was completely
    59        incompetent -- Mr. Mills?
    60        A.  I do not believe him to have been incompetent at all.

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