Day 138 - 20 Jun 95 - Page 74


     
     1        Limited despite a UFW union labour dispute running since
     2        1979.  However, when the UFW extended their boycott to
     3        McDonald's they then stopped Fresco's produce."  I do not
     4        invite any comment on that allegation as it stands. First
     5        of all, what did Bruce Church Limited supply to McDonald's?
     6        A.  Lettuce.
     7
     8   Q.   Where are they situated?
     9        A.  Salinas Valley, California.
    10
    11   Q.   California.  Is Fresco a trading name?
    12        A.  Yes, there a couple of trading names. They go under
    13        Bruce Church, Fresco.  It may be that company has a few
    14        different trading names.
    15
    16   Q.   In this case what is the UFW which is referred to?
    17        A.  The United Farm Workers, the union that Cesar Chevez
    18        made famous.
    19
    20   Q.   Cesar Chevez sounds as though he might be Hispanic in
    21        origin?
    22        A.  Yes, he is.
    23
    24   Q.   So is his Lordship right, that one feature in this union is
    25        it represents a lot of Hispanic work?
    26        A.  Yes.
    27
    28   Q.   Cesar Chevez is the leader of it.  Did you have a personal
    29        involvement in this matter?
    30        A.  Yes, I did.
    31
    32   Q.   Briefly what was it?  What happened?
    33        A.  I received a telephone call from Chavez who I have
    34        known for some years, and Cesar Chavez told me that he was
    35        going to start picketing some of our restaurants with
    36        leaflets because we were doing business with Bruce Church.
    37
    38   Q.   Why did he not want you to do business with Bruce Church?
    39        A.  He explained to me that they had had a continuing
    40        labour dispute for some time over his attempt to organise
    41        Bruce Church's farm workers, if you will.
    42
    43   Q.   What was your reaction?
    44        A.  Well, first I was not sure he was serious.  Cesar
    45        Chavez is friendly with a lot of our Hispanic
    46        owner/operators and I had known Cesar in other contexts.
    47        So I told him I would look into the matter.  Despite the
    48        sounding of picketing our stores it was a relatively
    49        friendly conversation, but I told him I would look into the
    50        matter and find out what was going on from Bruce Church's 
    51        point of view.  I invited in -- excuse me I did two 
    52        things.  One, I went to Salinas California to take a look 
    53        first-hand at what was going on, speak to people within the
    54        community, try to size up what was all of this about.
    55        After going there I then invited -- I did not meet with
    56        Bruce Church or their representatives while I was there.  I
    57        do not know why.  I think they may not have been available
    58        or whatever.  I wanted to deal with the issue very quickly
    59        and they were not available, but I spoke to other people
    60        who could give me an assessment of what was going on.

Prev Next Index