Day 142 - 26 Jun 95 - Page 49


     
     1
     2   Q.   Does that refresh your memory about legal steps taken by
     3        the Barbados government to close the operation, McDonald's
     4        operations?
     5        A.  I know in general that this operator was having
     6        difficulties but he was not closed down by the
     7        authorities.  He was shut down by virtue of legal action by
     8        McDonald's instituted in default because, in the Company's
     9        mind, he was not doing what he should be doing.
    10
    11   Q.   Does that mean that there was legal action pending by the
    12        authorities or some kind of action pending by the
    13        authorities but McDonald's stepped in first?
    14        A.  The thing I do not know about is I know there were some
    15        difficulties.  I believe those difficulties (but I am not
    16        sure) were resolved between the operator and the
    17        authorities, but we still were not happy with this
    18        individual because the store was not running very well at
    19        all.
    20
    21   Q.   What were the problems as you saw it with his operation
    22        then?
    23        A.  What the Operations people told me was that the
    24        operations of the stores were not good, the stores were not
    25        clean, there was not the quality that we were looking for
    26        and the service was not anywhere close to what we would
    27        want.
    28
    29   Q.   Do you remember anything about after it opened there being
    30        a storm of protest about its employment practices with some
    31        local restaurants maintaining that McDonald's was hiring
    32        cheap holiday labour from schools which was unfair
    33        competition?
    34        A.  No, I do not, I really do not.  I have no knowledge of
    35        that.
    36
    37   Q.   But when you say you have no knowledge, had you heard about
    38        it?
    39        A.  No, I just knew the operator was having problems in
    40        general with operating his store, that right from the
    41        outset the Company was concerned about this operator, and
    42        felt they had made a mistake in picking the operator and he
    43        was not delivering to customers what we wanted and we
    44        wanted him out.  We made a mistake in selecting an
    45        operator.  I will grant you that.
    46
    47   Q.   Was McDonald's there hiring employees who were still at
    48        school?
    49        A.  Sir, I do not know.  The legal proceedings were
    50        instituted, as I mentioned.  We were advised not to go to 
    51        Barbados, that the matter was being handled legally and 
    52        that the operator was very hostile towards the Company, and 
    53        that it needed to be handled through legal means.  So, the
    54        Human Resources group was told that they could not be
    55        involved because the operator was extremely hostile to us
    56        and legal matters were pending.
    57
    58   Q.   But as far as you know his personnel practices, when you
    59        said that you were concerned about the cleanliness
    60        standards, were you concerned about personnel practices?

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