Day 001 - 28 Jun 94 - Page 48
1 due course in the evidence.
2 Finally, my Lord, and on employment this is perhaps really
the most important question of all, certainly so far as
3 the plaintiffs are concerned, it is this: Do McDonald's
cynically exploit the weak position of women and ethnic
4 minorities in the labour market so as to provide
themselves with cheap labour?
5
If your Lordship will forgive me, I will answer this
6 question in an indirect way. The plaintiffs' second
witness in this case will be a Mr. Robert Beavers. He is
7 the most senior representative of the first plaintiffs who
will be giving evidence. He is a senior vice president of
8 the Corporation and a member of its board of directors.
He will explain why, like the second plaintiffs, the
9 Corporation in America thought it necessary to bring this
action and to press it to a conclusion; it also happens
10 that he is black.
11 He will describe his own experience of McDonald's from his
first job as a part-time crew member while he was a
12 student at the George Washington University of Washington
DC, right up to his present position of eminence in the
13 Corporation. He will also explain McDonald's policies and
practices in relation to equal opportunities. The effect
14 of his evidence will be this: McDonald's has a record of
second to none in the employment of people from ethnic
15 minorities. It has a policy which requires that the
ethnic composition of the crew of a particular restaurant
16 should reflect the demography of the local population.
17 In consequence of the single-minded pursuit of this
policy, McDonald's has received numerous awards and
18 commendations from the black and Hispanic communities in
America. As a further consequence, Mr. Beaver will tell
19 your Lordship, after the almost total destruction of
central South Los Angeles which occurred when the white
20 policeman accused of assaulting Rodney King, a black man,
were acquitted, 33 buildings in that area were left
21 virtually intact, 33 buildings alone. Those 33 buildings
were McDonald's restaurants.
22
My Lord, I add with some sense of anti-climax that the
23 evidence of Mr. Beaver who speaks for the first plaintiffs
will be reflected in the evidence of a number of witnesses
24 from the United Kingdom who are either black or female or
both. Their evidence is to bound at witness bundle, that
25 is yellow bundle 10, sections B/5 to 12.
26 My Lord, finally -- I am keeping well to schedule you
Lordship will be pleased to know -- I come to
27 rainforests. The issue, as I state it, is this: Have the
plaintiffs ever been responsible, directly or indirectly,
28 for the destruction of any part of the world's
rainforests?
29
My Lord, this too is an important issue, in some senses,
30 for a slightly different reason, but perhaps mostly
because it is one of those allegations which seems to have
