Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 46
1 inducted staff usually a month, six weeks, maybe six months
2 service.
3
4 Q. Just pause for a moment.
5 A. Starter rates are probationary.
6
7 Q. You said usually a month and then something, then six
8 months?
9 A. Well, the probationary period would vary amongst all
10 these information providers in this survey.
11
12 Q. Yes, but what were the periods you gave?
13 A. Typically a month to six months. That would be the
14 sort of typical period.
15
16 MR. MORRIS: That would apply to all the other companies as well
17 as McDonald's or whatever?
18 A. I am using my words "typically" advisedly because, you
19 know, they would vary, but that is the -- that is the
20 standard jargon, starter rate then basic rate.
21
22 Q. Can I just say that we did look at this before when we came
23 to this last document, G1. The McDonald's rates are, in
24 fact, from 1989.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There are various glosses, but what I did not
27 want to do is assume that basic hourly rate was the same as
28 starting rate, it may or may not be. That is why I am
29 asking what Mr. Pearson's understanding is.
30
31 MR. MORRIS: Yes, in any case the G1 document, the McDonald's
32 rates, as we found earlier on in the case, are from 1989,
33 two years later than the survey.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Let Mr. Rampton say what he wants to
36 say.
37
38 MR. RAMPTON: I intervene to remind your Lordship that the
39 evidence, so far as this document is concerned, the figures
40 given for McDonald's are the starting rates.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I know that but -- thank you very much --
43 that is why I asked what the basic rates were. The witness
44 is well aware of it. It is now clear. I wanted to make
45 sure.
46 A. I was about just to say that in some cases basic rates
47 and starting rates are the same thing.
48
49 Q. Yes.
50
51 MR. MORRIS: But, in any event, McDonald's actual starting rates
52 were not 2.20, 2.27, 2.43 in 1987. So, to compare like
53 with like, they were not actually 1.99, 2.06, and 2.22 in
54 April 1987. They have put their own rates two years
55 later.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment.
58
59 MR. MORRIS: I think, if you remember, we did deal with that at
60 the time.
