Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 10
1 11. I have read David McGee's statement and would concur
2 with much of his description of the incidents surrounding
3 his attempt to unionise the store.
4
5 "Union rights and McDonald's.
6 12. As explained in my earlier statement, I was involved
7 with a number of short-lived attempts to encourage
8 McDonald's employees to join the hotel and catering section
9 of the TGWU of which I was the leading officer in London
10 and the south-east of England at the time. I set these
11 initiatives in the context of a wide-ranging series of
12 activities among hotel and restaurant workers in London
13 during my period of tenure. We undertook literally
14 hundreds of recruitment initiatives, the great majority in
15 response to specific requests from employees. Several
16 thousand catering workers joined the union as a result.
17
18 "13. Particular characteristics of the McDonald's
19 workforce and wider labour practices militate against trade
20 union development in the Company. These include: high
21 labour turnover. If the 60 per cent labour turnover figure
22 at McDonald's referred to in the contentious leaflet is now
23 more or less accepted as near to the true position, this is
24 double the 35.4 per cent industry average for the
25 restaurant sector, according to the latest report by the
26 Hotel and Catering Training Company [Employment Flows in
27 the catering and hospitality sector: 1994]."
28
29 That document was disclosed about a week ago. I do not
30 know if it was put behind Mr. Pearson's statement in the
31 trial bundles or not.
32
33 "It is therefore doubly difficult in this company...."
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It was one of the ones you gave me which
36 I suggested I put behind the documents I already had behind
37 Mr. Pearson's statement.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Carry on reading from the top of the next
42 page.
43
44 MR. MORRIS: OK. "It is therefore doubly difficult in this
45 company to recruit, retain and successfully represent union
46 members."
47
48 You agree with everything written out so far?
49 A. I do.
50
51 Q. This is a second bullet point under paragraph 13:
52
53 "The company employs a high percentage of workers under
54 21 years of age, including students in large numbers, who
55 do not expect to enjoy a long stay at the company, and who
56 are unlikely to have a trade union background:
57 Peter Sutcliffe's case was an exception."
58
59 Next bullet point: "The employment of a high proportion of
60 part-time staff on variable shifts makes for difficulties
