Day 182 - 02 Nov 95 - Page 37


     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  I have nearly finished.  I am trying to finish
     2        before lunch.
     3
     4   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, can I say something?  I urge Mr. Morris
     5        to finish before lunch.  As matters presently stand, for
     6        reasons which are perfectly obvious to your Lordship,
     7        I have no cross-examination of this witness, but I do
     8        desire to say some words about the procedure which has been
     9        adopted now, both in relation to Norway and for the future,
    10        in relation to foreign witnesses.
    11
    12   MR. MORRIS:  (To the witness):  A couple of questions.  You said
    13        that you are not the main union rep at your store any
    14        more.  Can you just explain why that came about?
    15        A.  Well, as I began work at Thorn EMI, it means I work
    16        less and less at McDonald's.  So it is better to have
    17        someone who is more often there than I to be handling the
    18        business, because a lot of things are going on and, if you
    19        are not there, how are you supposed to deal with them?
    20
    21   Q.   Right.
    22        A.  So -----
    23
    24   Q.   So you are not there very much these days?
    25        A.  No.  I am -----
    26
    27   Q.   It would surprise me if you could do all those three
    28        things.
    29        A.  Yes.
    30
    31   Q.   There was a matter -- if I may be allowed to continue, even
    32        though it is one o'clock.  There was an example of disputes
    33        procedure which is in the documents.  You said about the
    34        ventilation.  Without having to translate the documents --
    35        it was document D, appendix D -- just explain, without
    36        referring to the document, just what happened, very
    37        briefly?  This was in 1994; yes?
    38        A.  Yes.  For as long as I worked in McDonald's in
    39        Slottsgt, the ventilation system has not been working
    40        properly; during the summer, the temperatures can get up
    41        into 35-36 degrees inside the kitchen where you work, which
    42        is 10 degrees above what the labour authorities recommend;
    43        and we complain about this every year, but there was not
    44        done anything about it.  But after we got the collective
    45        agreement, the union representative, myself and my second
    46        in command, or whatever, we wrote a letter to the labour
    47        authorities, asking them whether or not they could come on
    48        an inspection, which they did; and he stated that -- well,
    49        he tried, with all this equipment, he checked the equipment
    50        out, and he sent a letter to McDonald's stating that he had 
    51        found the system to be inadequate and it seemed to be 
    52        unbalanced, it did not work right, and he ordered 
    53        McDonald's to change the whole system by a certain date or
    54        else they would be fined a bit less than £100 each day
    55        until they did, which made McDonald's hurry up to get the
    56        thing fixed.
    57
    58   Q.   Right.  In terms of health and safety at work, is there any
    59        other development since the union agreement was signed?
    60        I do not mean a dispute; I mean in terms of are there any

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