Day 006 - 05 Jul 94 - Page 71


     
     1
         Q.   So do you not have to be sure he spends his time wisely?
     2        A.  Yes.
 
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Might I suggest you put it in a more direct
              way, because what you are really suggesting is that, say
     4        that he went because he was concerned they may not have
              been running their labour relations very well, is a labour
     5        conduct; he really went because McDonald's shudders at the
              thought of union membership.
     6
         MR. MORRIS:  Does McDonald's shudder at the thought of union
     7        membership?
              A.  No.  I think the statement makes perfectly clear
     8        Mr. Nicholson reinforced the fact that if people want to
              join a union that is their prerogative to do so.
     9
         Q.   He is going to go down to any store where this happens and
    10        tell people that, is he?
              A.  Well, I have no idea whether he will go to every
    11        store.  He went to this store.  He readily admits he did.
              Maybe he took someone with him for training purposes.
    12        I have no idea.  Maybe this was not, as you allege,
              McDonald's frightened because of X, Y and Z.  Maybe it was
    13        an opportunity to not only take himself down and do
              whatever had to be done, but educate someone in the
    14        process.  I have no way of knowing what made him go and
              say these things.  Whether he went alone or took a battery
    15        of people with him, you will have to ask him that.
 
    16   Q.   I am just reading from his statement.  He does say that
              the manager contacted him and said "there were a number of
    17        crew members wanting to a join the Transport & General
              Workers Union.  It was my view that if the staff were
    18        considering joining a union there may be a problem with a
              communications at the store, and I therefore went to the
    19        store" etc. "to discuss this".  So because a store manager
               -----
    20        A.  It is not unusual.
 
    21   Q.   So it was not really a local level problem, was it?  It
              suddenly became a national level problem?
    22        A.  No, it is not unusual for senior members of the
              company, be it OPs managers, market managers, heads of
    23        personnel, to attend rap sessions or sessions of any kind
              at any level throughout the company: No. 1, just to keep
    24        in tune with what is happening; No. 2, as a training
              exercise for themselves and others as part of their
    25        overall McDonald's responsibility.
  
    26   Q.   If we turn over the page to page 14? 
              A.  Yes. 
    27
         Q.   There is another example which the defendants have put in
    28        their pleadings in Hackney, East Ham, sorry.  I believe it
              is the Mayor Street branch in or around 1985.  Again
    29        Mr. Nicholson recollects this event very clearly; they
              considered joining a union?
    30        A.  Yes.
 

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