Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 11
1 in maintaining regular contact with crew interested in
2 joining a union."
3
4 Next bullet point: "Fear of dismissal. Of the 27 witness
5 statements from former employees, 14 referred to trade
6 unionism. Company hostility, real or perceived, features
7 in most of these cases. Until 1995, part-time staff have
8 had to work for five years and full-timers for two years
9 before gaining the right to claim wrongful dismissal at an
10 industrial tribunal."
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Could you just pause there? The change
13 earlier this year, was that to bring part-timers into line
14 with full-timers of two years?
15 A. It was.
16
17 Q. Any other change of substance?
18 A. That is the key issue, as regards this evidence.
19
20 Q. They did not cut down the two years for full-timers?
21 A. No. It was a levelling to two years.
22
23 MR. MORRIS: Does that only apply to trade unionism, that?
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. It gave part-timers the same
26 qualification period as full-timers for an application for
27 wrongful dismissal. That was my recollection, but I wanted
28 to see if it was correct.
29
30 THE WITNESS: It is correct, my Lord.
31
32 MR. MORRIS: "And" -- and it is the last bullet
33 point -- "employment conditions potentially restricting
34 trade union activity in a restaurant: see Crew Handbook,
35 page 24, conditions k and l, which would debar the
36 distribution of union literature or the collection of union
37 dues, whether staff are on or off duty.
38
39 "14. For these reasons, the McDonald's staffing and labour
40 relations system, in my view, is fundamentally inimicable
41 to unions. This may appear in the form of a prevailing
42 anti-union-initiatives culture at store management level,
43 as would appear from the employee statements; or in the
44 arrival of senior personnel at the scene of tentative first
45 attempts to establish a union presence; I refer to
46 Mr. Nicholson's statement, paragraphs 29-42.
47 Notwithstanding his denial in paragraph 34 (no policy of
48 getting rid of pro-union workers) employee statements
49 confirm such incidents in Dublin; or refer to the fear of
50 dismissal; or to rumours of McDonald's closing down a
51 unionised restaurant; or to the belief that a pretext would
52 be found for dismissing staff interested in unions. The
53 company appears to take few steps to ensure that all staff
54 are aware of their right to join a trade union, and that
55 union membership would not put their employment in
56 jeopardy.
57
58 "15. What would a reasonable modern employer, willing to
59 recognise a trade union, offer its workforce? At a
60 well-unionised restaurant, the size of a typical McDonald's
