Day 184 - 06 Nov 95 - Page 54


     
     1
     2   MR. RAMPTON:  In the bundle, it is the seventh statement.
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, either place.  I think that the whole
     5        letter must be in 14, because it does run to a second
     6        page.  Deal with Jodie Morris, and then we will have the
     7        break.
     8
     9   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  The third paragraph says: "When approached
    10        I was promised things I knew" -- and I emphasise "knew"
    11        -- "McDonald's would be unable to provide, for example
    12        pensions for old staff and health benefits.  This is fine,
    13        but the turnover rate is so high that to promise these
    14        things is absolutely ridiculous."
    15
    16        Do you know any reason why she would know that those things
    17        are unachievable at McDonald's; for example, pensions and
    18        health benefits?
    19        A.  No.
    20
    21   Q.   Does it not seem to you that a lot of these intervenors had
    22        been manipulated, lied to, pressurised, misinformed and
    23        generally organised into an anti-union, union-busting
    24        force, by people who did not want a union at McDonald's?
    25        A.  I think they were lied and harassed and badgered, and
    26        everything you have just said, by Sarah; not by myself or
    27        Michelle or Chris Broom.  We never put any pressure on them
    28        to sign the petition.  We never pressured them into writing
    29        a letter; it was by their own will.  As for lying to them,
    30        we told them, you know, everything would have to be
    31        negotiated.  We mentioned, you know -- and, to them, losing
    32        what they had, they were happy with what they had,
    33        obviously, because they did not want to lose this half
    34        price food.  They are just 15, 16, 17, 18-year-olds, as you
    35        say, and they were happy with what they had.
    36
    37        I am sure they, you know, after university and everything,
    38        they are going to look to a job with maybe all these things
    39        like what McDonald's has, and maybe more.  Maybe they will
    40        look for a job with a union that can provide those things.
    41        But as for this, we never did anything to them.  We never
    42        lied to them; we never misinformed them.  We just told them
    43        what we knew.
    44
    45        I mean, we had books from the Labour Board that they were,
    46        you know, "If you want to look through them, go ahead",
    47        type thing; and they never -- they did not want to, because
    48        what Sarah did was so bad to them that they did not -- they
    49        were not -- they did not think of us as liars.  We never
    50        stabbed them in the back.  We never did any of the things 
    51        Sarah did. 
    52 
    53   Q.   What steps did Chris Broom take to stop the misinformation
    54        and rumours that were going around of people that wanted to
    55        pull out from a union?
    56        A.  He had a list of all the pros and all the cons of a
    57        union, and he had -- he had asked his dad, "What are the
    58        pros of a union, what are the cons of a union"; and,
    59        I mean, from what I know of him, he went and showed people
    60        this list and he was talking to people.  But I, myself,

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