Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 20
1 A. Sorry.
2
3 Q. Yes?
4 A. I advised him that if he were to join the TGWU, he
5 would become a member of what we call the International
6 Workers Branch, that is one -- the branch number is 1/1647,
7 and I was the organising officer responsible for that and
8 other catering branches of the TGWU. Its membership at
9 that time stood at around 1,000 hotel and catering
10 employees, employed in hotels, restaurants, fast food
11 units, primarily in greater London, but with locations
12 including Heathrow, Gatwick. It was the primary catering
13 branch of the TGWU at that time.
14
15 So I told him about the branch, and all of these things
16 that I would have mentioned would have been my standard
17 presentation to new recruits of the union, people
18 interested in joining, about the branch he would join and
19 the benefits of joining.
20
21 But, as I indicated a moment ago, I also advised him on how
22 and how not to recruit. The key thing, I remember seeing
23 this man in my office and I remember meeting him,
24 particularly because we had not had many McDonald's workers
25 coming to our office to actually ask for support and
26 assistance. I remember saying -----
27
28 Q. Just pause there.
29 A. Yes.
30
31 Q. Yes.
32 A. I remember saying to him: "Be careful when you
33 recruit, do it in your own time, do not do it in Company
34 time and begin" ---
35
36 Q. Just pause. Yes?
37 A. -- "and begin with those people that you feel you can
38 trust", and I gave him my card and I said: "Get back to me
39 if you need to". We discussed the possibility at that
40 point in time of leafleting that restaurant from outside.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: Not by him but by the union, you mean?
43 A. Not by him but by the union. It is not what he wanted,
44 not what he wanted at all. That was fine by me, because
45 what the trade union wanted was people inside a McDonald's
46 discussing trade unionism, its values, its potential, you
47 know, with employees because they wanted to do it, not
48 because we thought they needed it. That is why I remember
49 David McGee because he wanted to do it himself. But I did
50 caution him as I said: "Be careful, do it in your own
51 time, start with people you can trust".
52
53 He was a student. He was concerned about issues such as
54 long hours, his working time, changes to his working time,
55 health and safety issues and work pressure. So off he went
56 with his leaflets. He signed a membership form that day,
57 that afternoon. He signed up, paid up and went off to do
58 his recruiting.
59
60 Q. Did he contact you after that?
