Day 212 - 30 01 96 - Page 64

 
 

                                                                  DAY 212
 
                                             KIM MOFFATT, Cross-examined:
 
 
 
     1        A.  I would have told them that I did not know the answer
     2        and I would have contacted someone at Head Office or sent
     3        them to my Store Manager.  I would not have answered
     4        something I did not know.
     5
     6   Q.   So you would say, "I will look into that", or something?
     7
     8   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What sort of question of law do you have in
     9        mind?
    10
    11   MR. MORRIS:  If people ask questions about what their actual
    12        legal entitlements are, whatever it is, whether it is
    13        health and safety, whether it is hours, whether it is about
    14        uniforms, pay, you would not have been able to answer those
    15        questions; that is the point.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Did they ever ask what their legal
    18        entitlement was as opposed to what their entitlement ---
    19        A.  No one has asked me legal -----
    20
    21   Q.  -- was understood to be from McDonald's?
    22        A.  No one has asked me the legal entitlement, no.
    23
    24   MR. MORRIS:  How many have you done?
    25        A.  I could not -----
    26
    27   Q.   Thousands?
    28        A.  Yes.
    29
    30   Q.   So here we have McDonald's hiring, in your experience,
    31        thousands of people, none of whom have asked about the law
    32        and presumably do not know about the law; the trainer does
    33        not know about law, and -----
    34        A.  The trainer might know about the law.  She has not been
    35        on a course, but she might know about it.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Why I asked the question, it surprises me
    38        that anyone should say, "What is my legal entitlement?"
    39        I can see they might say: "What breaks am I entitled to, or
    40        what holiday pay am I entitled to?"
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:  That would be the advantage, though, of having the
    43        union, for example, would it not, in the store?
    44        A.  That is a different subject.  I do not know anything
    45        about unions.
    46
    47   Q.   OK.  Especially when it is a vulnerable, uneducated
    48        workforce.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Well, that is not a question. 
    51 
    52   THE WITNESS:  Is that a joke?  I did not get it. 
    53
    54   MR. MORRIS:  No.  I am asking you a question.
    55        A.  No.
    56
    57   Q.   The more vulnerable, the less versed in their rights, and
    58        the less aware their employers are about what their rights
    59        are, the more important it would be to have some kind of
    60        union or other backing, would it not?
 
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