Day 275 - 08 Jul 96 - Page 23


     
     1        know that I had read it from cover to cover but I had
     2        certainly read quite big chunks of it, and I remember the
     3        parts in there basically indicating that if unions so much
     4        as tried to gain any kind of foothold McDonald's would be
     5        sending round flying squads to chase them out of town.
     6
     7             So as far as I was concerned, bearing in mind that the
     8        book indicated that it had been done with McDonald's
     9        consent they were quite happy to be associated with an
    10        antitrade-union attitude, and they were quite happy for
    11        people to consider that they were hostile to trade unions
    12        an they did not want anything to do with them.
    13
    14             "In October 1990 I went into McDonald's in Seven
    15        Sisters Road and inquired about the rates of pay for new
    16        employees.  The manager wrote the pay rates on the back of
    17        a crew information form."  Sorry, I am trying to find the
    18        form. (Pause).
    19
    20   Q.   Well, you can come back to it if you want just giving a
    21        reference, unless there is some particular point you want
    22        to make on it now?
    23        A.  No, not especially, but if I do not find it in here I
    24        will come back to it.  No, I cannot find it.
    25
    26   Q.   No, well, you can give the reference at any time if you
    27        want to.
    28        A.  Right.
    29
    30   Q.   After you have left the witness box if need be.
    31        A.  Thank you.
    32
    33             "I believe that it should be a fundamental right for
    34        any employee to be paid a decent wage and to work in a safe
    35        environment without risks to health, and to be treated as a
    36        human being and not a robot.  I also believe that people
    37        should be entitled to join trade unions without fear of
    38        losing their jobs or retribution by their employers.  I am
    39        not actuated by excess malice, I am motivated to campaign
    40        against McDonald's and other multinationals because of my
    41        love for the planet we live on and my love and respect for
    42        the people and animals living on it and because of my
    43        desire to see a world free from exploitation and
    44        oppression."
    45
    46             I think the next thing I will deal with is, if I could
    47        just deal with the amendments that the Plaintiffs have made
    48        to their Statement of Claim, which is, I have nothing to do
    49        with producing the fact sheet which is the subject of this
    50        action.  I did not prepare it or compile it, or write it or
    51        edit it, or print it or arrange for it to be printed, nor
    52        was I party to that; nor did I procure it or assist it or
    53        authorise it.  As I said, I was not involved in the group
    54        at the time when the fact sheet was produced and I know
    55        nothing about how it came into being apart from what was
    56        reported at meetings, which was that the person or persons
    57        who had written it had left the group.
    58
    59             The basis for the Plaintiffs making that claim, they
    60        say, is Mr. Morris's affidavit for the Haringey case.  I

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