Day 182 - 02 Nov 95 - Page 23
1 company by company, franchisee by franchisee and so on. So
2 that, in effect, I anticipate what you are saying, is if
3 you would have a number of subsidiary companies each
4 running, say, one or two or three restaurants or a number
5 of franchisees each running one restaurant, then the
6 recognition is either restaurant by restaurant or in small
7 units of, say, two or three restaurants?
8 A. Exactly.
9
10 Q. Right, I understand that and I would like to make a note of
11 that in a moment. In fact, I will do that first and then
12 come back. I think what Mr. Morris was asking you about
13 was, what sort of qualifications do you have to have to get
14 union recognition? Do you have to have a certain
15 proportion of the employees at that restaurant or is it
16 sufficient if a union has one member who is working at that
17 restaurant or what?
18 A. In principle, it is only necessary with one member but,
19 obviously, the union wants to have as many members as
20 possible, and it depends. Usually, there is not a set
21 limit of 50 per cent; they usually say that it should be up
22 to 50 per cent organised in the union, or there should be
23 considerable interest for it, because an agreement like
24 this does not work by its own, it needs representatives who
25 can take care of it.
26
27 Q. Right. Pause there a moment, please. Yes?
28
29 MR. MORRIS: But once you have an agreement which you have in
30 Norway which covers how many stores?
31 A. I think it is -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It depends upon how many the legal person you
34 have made the agreement with operates.
35
36 MR. MORRIS: So how many stores are covered by the agreement
37 that was made with the HRAF and McDonald's?
38 A. I think about five or six stores, but different
39 agreements. They have a single agreement for each store.
40
41 Q. Right. But what we are saying is that it is the case that
42 as long as there is one union member in one of those stores
43 they have a right to be represented by the union?
44 A. Yes.
45
46 Q. In the run up to the union agreement, are you aware of any
47 -- I mean, Theo Holm says: "There has never been any
48 hostility to the union or to those staff who seek a union
49 organisation". Have you got any examples regarding
50 yourself? I mean, you have said in your statement that you
51 were banned from the store in non-working hours. Can you
52 just explain what that means ---
53 A. Yes.
54
55 Q. -- how that is linked to this union agreement, if it is?
56 A. Well, that was after I had shown my involvement in
57 this. That was after I discovered what was going on, and
58 I was then getting involved with getting this agreement,
59 and that was obviously talking to my other colleagues,
60 encouraging them to join the union. But the incident I am
