Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 02
1 Tuesday, 31st October, 1995
2
3 MR. MORRIS: I would like to call Mr. Philip Pearson.
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
6
7 PHILIP PEARSON, sworn
8 Examined by the Defendants
9
10 MR. MORRIS: Mr. Pearson, can you give the court your full name
11 and your address, please?
12 A. My full name is Philip Gordon Pearson. My address is
13 *****************, *********.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Try to keep your voice up. The microphones
16 do not assist to magnify your voice. So speak up loud and
17 clear across the court, Mr. Pearson.
18
19 THE WITNESS: Right. My name is Philip Pearson. My address is
20 *****************, *********.
21
22 MR. MORRIS: Could you tell the court your current position,
23 please?
24 A. Yes. I am currently a research worker-cum-journalist
25 working for Industrial Relations Services, IRS; and in my
26 spare time, for what that is worth, I am also a councillor
27 for the London Borough of Hackney where I am Chair of the
28 Environmental Services Committee.
29
30 Q. We will come on to your time with the Transport and General
31 Workers Union in a minute. But since you left the
32 Transport and General Workers Union, can you just say the
33 work you have been doing?
34 A. Yes. Since I left the T&G, which was quite a long term
35 experience -- I was there for about 11 years -- I worked
36 for a couple of organisations, as I said, Industrial
37 Relations Services which is an industrial relations and
38 employment research and advisory organisation, and I have
39 worked for an organisation called the Pay Equity Project,
40 which concerns itself with low and unequal pay,
41 particularly amongst women workers.
42
43 Q. Did you also work for the Low Pay Unit?
44 A. I worked for the Low Pay Unit immediately upon leaving
45 the TGWU, and I worked there for approximately 14 months as
46 a research and information assistant.
47
48 Q. As part of your research work, are you familiar with the
49 statutes relating to employment and the general conditions
50 in the industry relating to employment?
51 A. Yes, I am. I believe I have got a fair background in
52 precisely this area, stemming really from the days
53 I started in the TGWU in 1980, April 1980, because an
54 essential requirement of being a full-time official of a
55 trade union then -- and, indeed, all the way through that
56 time -- was a through grounding of knowledge, or reasonably
57 through grounding, particularly from a practical point of
58 view, of the Employment Protection and Health and Safety at
59 Work and Wages Council legislation. I should also add that
60 during my time with the TGWU I was a member of two Wages
