Day 122 - 05 May 95 - Page 61


     
     1         -- they were paid for the short breaks.
     2
     3   Q.   Yes, but had that changed at all so that the short breaks
     4        were not paid?
     5        A.  No, I do not think -- that is still -- I think that
     6        remains unchanged.
     7
     8   Q.   When you were talking about breaks, a time coming when
     9        breaks were being paid, I thought you meant all breaks,
    10        short breaks as well as long breaks; if you had 10 minutes
    11        to go and have a drink and a rest, that you were not paid
    12        for that?
    13        A.  No, you were paid for that.  That was not -----
    14
    15   Q.   So they have always been paid for short breaks?
    16        A.  Yes.
    17
    18   Q.   But a time came when you were not paid for the -----
    19        A.  Apparently, my Lord, yes.
    20
    21   Q.   But you may have done for the mid shift break?
    22        A.  Yes.
    23
    24   MR. MORRIS:  The reality is, is it not, Mr. Nicholson, in 1989,
    25        according to the Crew Handbook, meal breaks are unpaid?
    26        A.  It would appear so.  It would appear so.
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:  Thank you very much.  No further questions.
    29
    30                   Re-examined by Mr. Rampton Q.C.
    31
    32   Q.   Mr. Nicholson, there are only two matters I would like to
    33        ask you about:  Going back a few days now, I do not know on
    34        which day it was, when talking about union activities
    35        within the store, as an answer to a question from his
    36        Lordship, I think you agreed with his Lordship -- this is
    37        my note, it is not the transcript -- that there were no
    38        overt union activities allowed inside the stores?
    39        A.  That is correct.
    40
    41   Q.   What I want to ask you is this:  Suppose, if you will, that
    42        the members, or some of them, of the crew in a particular
    43        restaurant decided to have a meeting, an informal meeting,
    44        outside the store, let us say, in the local pub where they
    45        discussed and, indeed, decided that they would like to join
    46        a union, and that came to the ear of the manager, perhaps
    47        senior management, what would be the Company's attitude or
    48        reaction to that state of affairs?
    49        A.  Exactly as what is happening; I mean, we have no
    50        control over what people do outside of our restaurants and 
    51        in their own time, but they would have to come in and ask, 
    52        and I would go down, or someone else would go down, to 
    53        address them on our attitude to unions.
    54
    55   Q.   Suppose that meeting, that hypothetical meeting, in the
    56        local pub had been attended by the local union
    57        representatives, would the Company object to that?
    58        A.  No.
    59
    60   Q.   One other thing -- I think it was today -- it was being

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