Day 138 - 20 Jun 95 - Page 09
1 Q. There is a union I have heard of through general reading in
2 this report mentioned in your statement which I think is
3 particularly strong in California, partly because of the
4 influx of Mexican workers on the fruit farms there?
5 A. My Lord, there are, I am going to call it, a handful,
6 not just one union, but I believe (and I will get into more
7 detail in a second) a handful of unions in the US that
8 would fit the definition that I believe you are
9 prescribing.
10
11 It is true that there is the United Farm Workers that have
12 displayed some interest. However, I would not say that
13 either they are alone or the strongest in expressing their
14 interest. There are variety of unions. One union that has
15 keen interest, if you will, in our workers would be the
16 United Food and Commercial Workers. That union in the
17 United States used to be known as the Retail Clerks and the
18 Amalgamated Food Cutters, I think, was their name. They
19 joined together into this United Food and Commercial
20 Workers Union. They have a very keen interest.
21
22 There is the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union. These
23 are very, very large unions that I am speaking of. That
24 has a very, very keen interest in this area.
25
26 You mentioned the Transport Workers here in Britain -- we
27 call them the "Teamsters Union" in the United States --
28 have expressed that interest, and there would be others
29 that have expressed keen interest. Another one that has
30 very loudly and clearly expresses their interest in media
31 campaigns and others, the Service Employees International
32 Union; another one that clearly displays its interest in
33 attempts organising within our industry, and I include
34 retailing and other service industries as well. They
35 express a keen interest.
36
37 All of these unions I am mentioning have active organising
38 branches, if you will, union officials whose full-time it
39 is to organise the sector of industry that we are in.
40
41 MR. RAMPTON: Thank you, Mr. Stein. I think you have also
42 answered the next part of this sentence. I stopped at the
43 words "for these workers". It goes on: "... and the ones
44 they could join", that is the workers, "show little
45 interest in the problem of part-timers". Do you see that?
46 A. I just started.
47
48 Q. Let me read it again: "There is no union specifically for
49 these workers", you have dealt with that?
50 A. Yes.
51
52 Q. "... and the ones", that is the unions, "they", the workers,
53 "could join show little interest in the problems of
54 part-time", as I think you have just answered that too?
55 A. That is correct.
56
57 Q. Then you see the parenthesis: "(Mostly women)". Is that
58 true of your workforce that they are mostly part-timers and
59 mostly women or not?
60 A. Our workforce is not mostly women; it is about 50-50.
