Day 137 - 19 Jun 95 - Page 03
1 A. Yes, I am.
2
3 Q. I understand that it is not possible in the United States
4 to take law as an under graduate course; is that right?
5 A. That is correct.
6
7 Q. When did you qualify academically in law?
8 A. That would be 1967.
9
10 Q. Did you subsequently become a member of the Bar of
11 Massachussets because I think you are from Boston?
12 A. Yes, I am from Boston. I became a member of the
13 Massachussets Bar, yes.
14
15 Q. Are you a member of the Ohio Bar?
16 A. Yes, I am.
17
18 Q. And the American Bar Association?
19 A. That is correct.
20
21 Q. What were your early working days spent doing, Mr. Stein?
22 A. My early working days really started as working my way
23 through college. Subsequent to graduating from law school,
24 my first employment was with the National Labour Relations
25 Board.
26
27 Q. Pause there, please. What is the National Labour Relations
28 Board?
29 A. It is an agency of the United States government that
30 oversees the Labour Relations area in the US, the rights of
31 employees to organise or not to organise the rights of
32 employers in the Labour relations context and the rights of
33 unions in the Labour Relations context.
34
35 Q. When you used the word "organise", is that American for
36 joining a union and having it represent you in the
37 workplace?
38 A. Yes. The National Labour Relations Board closely
39 monitors that process and conducts secret ballot elections
40 that allows employees to freely choose whether or not they
41 wish to be represented.
42
43 Q. If there is a dispute or an argument, debate, if I can call
44 it that, between the employer and the workforce as to
45 whether or not a union should represent the members of the
46 workforce in the Company, is that always governed by and
47 processed through the National Labour Relations Board?
48 A. Yes, Labour Relations is primarily with regard to the
49 issues that you are raising handled on a national level by
50 this US agency that has offices in various states
51 throughout the United States.
52
53 Q. Just while we are on it (because it will recur, Mr. Stein,
54 in the course of your evidence) what are the conditions
55 which need to be fulfilled before a National Labour
56 Relations Board, NLRB, election will take place on this
57 question?
58 A. There is a very strict process. The government
59 requires that a union obtained signed authorisation cards
60 from at least 30 per cent of the employees in an
