Day 193 - 28 Nov 95 - Page 37
1
2 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness): Can you give the court any help
3 as to why you feel there were so many allegations by the
4 people that it has been suggested changed sides, why they
5 made allegations about their cards and promises made and
6 the cards not being returned, why did that suddenly come
7 up?
8 A. Because it is an intimidation factor. I mean, the
9 intimidation factor was just not at McDonald's, it carried
10 on to school. Cam's daughter, Alison Ballantyne, whenever
11 I walked down the hall -- excuse my language -- but she
12 used to call me a bitch and a slut, and one day when I was,
13 I was walking down the hall with one of my friends one of
14 her and her friends behind me were mimicking to kick me in
15 the but, and there was rumour around school that she was
16 going to take me on or, you know, beat me up at school, and
17 she was -----
18
19 Q. Can I just say, I was not actually asking about that.
20 I was asking why do you think, why this -- you have said
21 that all these allegations about cards, promises being said
22 about they can have their cards back and people asking for
23 their cards back, virtually all of them are just completely
24 untrue -- why specifically do you think people put that in
25 their statements to the Labour Board, why the cards issue?
26 If you are saying these people are making it up, why are
27 they making up specific allegations about their cards, do
28 you think?
29 A. Because they are intimidated by McDonald's. They were
30 afraid that they were going to lose their jobs.
31
32 Q. A simple question about the Labour Board, is one of the
33 main ways of defeating an automatic certification to
34 question the validity of the signing of cards?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. Mr. Rampton asked you about the -- why the union would
38 agree to this ballot when they had filed for automatic
39 certification, yes?
40 A. Mmm.
41
42 Q. Which they believed, of course, they had a right to, as you
43 signed up 67 people out of 102 who wanted to be in the
44 union, and why did the union agree to a ballot after all,
45 what was the reason they decided to ---
46 A. A. The reason -----
47
48 Q. -- do that?
49 A. Because the chair person had said there was no end in
50 sight.
51
52 Q. The union had not called its witnesses yet?
53 A. No, the union had not called its witnesses; it had not
54 even gotten around the table yet. That was the main
55 reason. It looked like it was going to go on forever.
56
57 Q. What was the harm in it going on forever as far as the
58 union was concerned in terms of the workplace?
59 A. Well, it is a growing hostile atmosphere. The union
60 and I thought that it was a tactic of McDonald's and other
