Day 137 - 19 Jun 95 - Page 03


     
     1        A.  Yes, I am.
     2
     3   Q.   I understand that it is not possible in the United States
     4        to take law as an under graduate course; is that right?
     5        A.  That is correct.
     6
     7   Q.   When did you qualify academically in law?
     8        A.  That would be 1967.
     9
    10   Q.   Did you subsequently become a member of the Bar of
    11        Massachussets because I think you are from Boston?
    12        A.  Yes, I am from Boston.  I became a member of the
    13        Massachussets Bar, yes.
    14
    15   Q.   Are you a member of the Ohio Bar?
    16        A.  Yes, I am.
    17
    18   Q.   And the American Bar Association?
    19        A.  That is correct.
    20
    21   Q.   What were your early working days spent doing, Mr. Stein?
    22        A.  My early working days really started as working my way
    23        through college.  Subsequent to graduating from law school,
    24        my first employment was with the National Labour Relations
    25        Board.
    26
    27   Q.   Pause there, please.  What is the National Labour Relations
    28        Board?
    29        A.  It is an agency of the United States government that
    30        oversees the Labour Relations area in the US, the rights of
    31        employees to organise or not to organise the rights of
    32        employers in the Labour relations context and the rights of
    33        unions in the Labour Relations context.
    34
    35   Q.   When you used the word "organise", is that American for
    36        joining a union and having it represent you in the
    37        workplace?
    38        A.  Yes.  The National Labour Relations Board closely
    39        monitors that process and conducts secret ballot elections
    40        that allows employees to freely choose whether or not they
    41        wish to be represented.
    42
    43   Q.   If there is a dispute or an argument, debate, if I can call
    44        it that, between the employer and the workforce as to
    45        whether or not a union should represent the members of the
    46        workforce in the Company, is that always governed by and
    47        processed through the National Labour Relations Board?
    48        A.  Yes, Labour Relations is primarily with regard to the
    49        issues that you are raising handled on a national level by
    50        this US agency that has offices in various states 
    51        throughout the United States. 
    52 
    53   Q.   Just while we are on it (because it will recur, Mr. Stein,
    54        in the course of your evidence) what are the conditions
    55        which need to be fulfilled before a National Labour
    56        Relations Board, NLRB, election will take place on this
    57        question?
    58        A.  There is a very strict process.  The government
    59        requires that a union obtained signed authorisation cards
    60        from at least 30 per cent of the employees in an

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