Day 199 - 11 Dec 95 - Page 21
1 but came unstuck at Foodtown when staff fought back and
2 protected their contract. Now the company is at odds with
3 the Finance Sectors Union over a similar strategy."
4
5
6 Now: "Back to the future", last section: "'The last
7 bastion of concessionary bargaining', that is the
8 description of the McDonald's contract by one senior
9 Service Workers Union official.
10
11 The collapse of the McDonald's contract offers unions a
12 valuable lesson in the pitfalls of using concessionary
13 bargaining in an endeavour to protect union membership and
14 union members.
15
16 In 1991, in an effort to protect members from the
17 Employment Contracts At, the SWU agreed with McDonald's to
18 opt out of the Tearoom and Restaurant Award.
19
20 In the short term the move was successful. While the
21 contract gave some protection against the worst excesses of
22 the new law, the worsening economy and a highly casualised,
23 often youthful workforce meant the company was able to
24 continue its push for concessions and cuts to the contract.
25
26 But subsequent negotiations saw the mood change.
27
28 McDonald's demanded, and forced, concession after
29 concession on the union.
30
31 A two, then a three-tier pattern emerged with new hires
32 coming into the job on lower conditions.
33
34 Penal rates disappeared and even personal grievance and
35 dispute procedures were changed with company-paid
36 arbitrators replacing access to the Employment Tribunal.
37
38 The former union advocate to the contract, and now Labour
39 MP, Rick Barker, defends the decision to break away from
40 the old award.
41
42 He says protecting some conditions was better than losing
43 everything, as happened with the Tearoom Award.
44
45 He sees the end of the contract as the inevitable
46 consequence of the ECA.
47
48 In the end the union had little to defend."
49
50 I can see at the bottom of that page it says March 1995,
51 labour Notes. That is the correct date for that.
52
53 MS. STEEL: I think that is all the Civil Evidence Act
54 statements that there are to be read at present.
55 Obviously, Mr. Brett is not going to be able to come to
56 court to give his evidence this term. We did phone Vicky
57 Watkins and she is able to come tomorrow morning, if that
58 is what the court wanted.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is she the woman from Wales?
