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
