Day 116 - 26 Apr 95 - Page 35
1 unions?
2 A. Yes, I was telephoned by Radio Four, a reporter for the
3 morning programme, between half six and 9 o'clock and he
4 asked what our position was regarding unions. I told him
5 what our stand was, that we prefer to negotiate with our
6 people direct and that we dislike the idea of third party
7 intervention. That was, in fact, broadcast; I heard the
8 broadcast in my car. It was fairly innocuous.
9
10 Q. In your time with the company has there been, so far as you
11 are aware, anything that one might describe as a run-in or
12 a confrontation with any of the unions in this country?
13 A. No.
14
15 Q. Going back to specific matters about unions, Mr. Nicholson,
16 the Defendants say, and I am going to try to do it
17 chronologically -- my Lord this is passage 95 on page
18 34 -- "In or around 1985 at Hackney McDonald's when
19 employees attempted to organise an inner union, the
20 active" -- sorry, I read that completely wrong. I will
21 read it again. "In or around 1985 in Hackney McDonald's
22 when employees attempted to organise inner union, the
23 active members were sacked."
24 A. No, it never happened.
25
26 Q. Not true?
27 A. Not true.
28
29 Q. Did anything happen in or around 1985 at the Hackney
30 McDonald's that you can recall?
31 A. Yes.
32
33 Q. What?
34 A. I received a telephone call from the manager saying
35 that some of the crew people wanted to talk to me about
36 union representation, and would I be prepared to come and
37 address them. I went to Hackney. There were only eight or
38 nine crew people at the meeting, which was hardly
39 representative of the crew which must have been somewhere
40 between 80 and 100. I told them exactly what the company's
41 position was, that if they wanted to join a union they were
42 quite welcome to join a union. We could not stop them from
43 joining a union, it was their right to join, but the
44 company would not be prepared to negotiate the wages or
45 conditions of service with that union. We preferred to
46 deal with them the crew direct. The meeting was very
47 light-hearted. Of the eight or nine people that were
48 I think perhaps two were really serious in their intention
49 and the rest laughed it off eventually. The meeting lasted
50 about 45 minutes, hardly that.
51
52 Q. What if you had sacked those eight or nine or more for
53 wanting to join a union, what would have been the
54 consequence of that?
55 A. Well, I would have thought that they would have gone to
56 industrial tribunal immediately.
57
58 Q. Have you been taken to an industrial tribunal on that
59 ground?
60 A. No.
