Day 181 - 01 Nov 95 - Page 23


     
     1        A.  I think it was Warren Street.
     2
     3   Q.   OK, I do not mind.  He said:  "No, you cannot go in, but
     4        you can stand outside and talk to them and distribute
     5        literature", did he not?
     6        A.  I do not remember him saying:  "You can stand outside",
     7        but I do remember on that occasion wanting to be sure, and
     8        I was asked to do this by the Branch Secretary of the trade
     9        union at that time, Mr. David Turnbull, who is now a
    10        full-time official.  I remember being asked by the Branch
    11        Secretary to clear it with management, "Could you go in or
    12        could you not?"  So I did -- that is completely unconnected
    13        to the David McGee approach.
    14
    15   Q.   Of course, I mentioned that, Mr. Pearson, because you said
    16        you had no line into McDonald's, you did not know how to
    17        talk to them.  That is not the case.
    18        A.  This was afterwards.
    19
    20   Q.   Never mind.
    21        A.  Well, it does matter.
    22
    23   Q.   Why?
    24        A.  Because the McDonald's, the first McDonald's experience
    25        I had, a substantial one, was David McGee, and from that,
    26        and next time you go to McDonald's and the time after, you
    27        just want to be a bit more careful, which is what I did.
    28        So I approached the employer to see what would be the
    29        situation of going in versus not going in.  That is what
    30        I did.  I do not see the connection with David McGee.
    31
    32   Q.   Mr. Pearson, I suggest that when it matters to you, you are
    33        quite willing to ring up McDonald's and talk to them; when
    34        it does not matter, in the case of Mr. McGee, you do not
    35        bother?
    36        A.  It is a case of my professional judgment and, in my
    37        professional judgment, I did the right thing and
    38        I discussed this sort of issue with colleagues all the
    39        time, and I do not remember any of us finding these
    40        situations easy, any of us having pat answers about going
    41        to law, or whatever.  You just deal with them in the rough
    42        and tumble of the industrial relations situation that you
    43        are in.  It may be the wrong decision or the right one, but
    44        it is the decision I took, and I think it was the right
    45        one, and it did not make Mr. McGee happy.
    46
    47        If I may say so, it did not make me happy either (since
    48        those are the words you used earlier), but you have to get
    49        on with it, and that is what I did.  We thought the best
    50        next thing to do was to go to the restaurant, some of us, 
    51        at an appropriate time and leaflet the restaurant.  Of 
    52        course, Mr. McGee had left by the time we had organised 
    53        that.
    54
    55   Q.   Hang on, I thought you said it was Warren Street was the
    56        one you went to?
    57        A.  No, I did say Warren Street, but I said we were
    58        contemplating as part of my -- I did say this yesterday; it
    59        is on the record -- that we considered the possibility of
    60        going to Seven Sisters to leaflet the restaurant.

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