Day 189 - 20 Nov 95 - Page 24


     
     1        not that big.
     2
     3   Q.   Over the page, it says something -- do you remember
     4        anything about the crew room heating?
     5        A.  Not really.  It is a long time ago.
     6
     7   Q.   OK.  On the next page, 966, at the top, it says something
     8        about -- number 5:  "The girls would like to work on the
     9        grill more rather than the cash registers."  Do you know
    10        what that refers to?
    11        A.  Yes.  People used to like to get variety by working in
    12        different positions; and it was kind of male dominated.
    13        You were supposed to work on everything, but the grills
    14        tended to be run by mainly the male staff and certain
    15        individuals on it, stuff like that.
    16
    17   Q.   So, had there been any dissent about that from -----
    18        A.  There would be, because a lot of people just did not
    19        want to work in the one position all the time; they get
    20        bored and fed up, you know.
    21
    22   Q.   Do you have any comment about performance-related pay, how
    23        you felt about it at the time?
    24        A.  Yes.  I thought it was unjust, because the pay related
    25        was sort of granted on a number of things, like your
    26        attitude towards work and stuff, and things like that, not
    27        -- a lot of it, I suppose, your personality even came into
    28        it, I suppose, for a lot of cases; and it was a graded pay;
    29        it was what whatever the management thought you deserved.
    30        So if, say, you personally did not get on with the manager,
    31        then your pay did not go up correspondingly.  Also, in
    32        fact, if you got two -- there was a zero sort of pay rise;
    33        if I remember right, if you got two of them in a row you
    34        were sacked.
    35
    36   Q.   If we look at this document here, which is a report by
    37        McDonald's on what they called rumblings amongst the crew
    38        of possible union activity -----
    39        A.  Where is that one, sorry?
    40
    41   Q.   If you go back to 964:  "The manager, Martin Coughlin,
    42        brought to my attention" -- I presume this is Mike Mehigan;
    43        it is not signed, but it has his name at the bottom -- "the
    44        fact that there were some rumblings amongst the crew of
    45        possible union activity."
    46        A.  Yes.
    47
    48   Q.   He brought that to his attention on 12th February, 1979?
    49        A.  Yes.
    50 
    51   Q.   Then he goes on about various complaints or points made by 
    52        employees.  Had there been rumblings? 
    53        A.  Yes -- well, I will tell you.
    54
    55   Q.   How did those become rumblings?
    56        A.  Several of us decided we wanted to join the trade
    57        union, because we felt that we had sort of no protection
    58        and such against, say, like the whim of a manager if he did
    59        not like you, or whatever it was, you know.  Then the fact
    60        of pay and stuff like that.  So we decided we would join

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