Day 213 - 31 01 96 - Page 12

 
 

                                                                  DAY 213
 
                                            PAUL LEMAIRE, Cross-examined:
 
 
 
     1        virtually impossible.
     2
     3   Q.   So, if people worked up to 16 hours, it means -----
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  This is turning into a rather arid argument.
     6        What I would like you to put is exactly what Mr. Beech is
     7        going to say.  It may be quite wrongly reading it again,
     8        but I thought that he meant they were working around 16
     9        hours a day for 12 days in a row.  Now I re-read it, I can
    10        see that he might very well not be meaning that; that they
    11        worked 12 days in a row and that the shifts, some of the
    12        shifts, or even one of them, were as long as 16 hours.  But
    13        the important thing is to put to the witness what you
    14        expect Mr. Beech will actually say.
    15
    16   MR. MORRIS:  I am confident that Mr. Beech will say what he said
    17        there.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Now you have made the point, it does not
    20        help.  I do not know whether Mr. Beech is going to say
    21        11 five hour shifts, and one 16, or eleven 10, and one 16,
    22        or six 16, and five 11, and so on.  So, I would like you to
    23        put -- if need be, ask Mr. Beech.  If Mr. Beech cannot
    24        remember specifically, get the best you can off Mr. Beech
    25        and put that.
    26
    27   MR. MORRIS:  All right.  (To the witness)  The reason I have
    28        brought it up is because he has already given his evidence
    29        about 16 hour shifts and people working 12 days in a row.
    30        I put it to you that you have been coached to have an
    31        absurd interpretation of this, to try and discredit
    32        Mr. Beech's evidence?
    33        A.  I have not been coached.  I just read what it said and
    34        said my opinion on it.  It is my choice what I said in my
    35        statement.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You must put what you expect Mr. Beech to
    38        say.
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  Have you seen or heard of people working
    41        12 days in a row up to 16 hour shifts, i.e. they have
    42        worked 12 days in a row, maybe five, eight or 10 hours, and
    43        one of those shifts may even be as long as 16 hours?
    44        A.  No, I have not heard that.
    45
    46   Q.   So, is it just a coincidence that whenever all the
    47        witnesses from your store, for the Plaintiffs, for your
    48        side -- McDonald's, that is -- comment on that, they will
    49        say virtually exactly the same thing?
    50        A.  It was their opinion, is it not?  This is my opinion. 
    51        What they say is up to them.  This is just my opinion of 
    52        that statement I was told to read. 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:   When David Roberts was in charge of the store, how
    55        many people would generally be working on a shift; say, one
    56        of the busier shifts, on a Saturday or something?
    57        A.  18, 20 people.
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  How many?
    60        A.  18 to 20.
 
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