Day 175 - 18 Oct 95 - Page 38


     
     1        and have an open dialogue with the management, or this was
     2        the way it purported to be, but the people who worked --
     3        already worked there made it really clear to me that this
     4        was not the place to go and say what you thought, because
     5        eventually -- you would just have your card marked.
     6
     7        It was a way -- on one hand, it was a pretence, it was a
     8        pretence that this two-way conversation could take place;
     9        it was also an opportunity for the management to spot
    10        potential, as they saw it, trouble makers, and they were
    11        also used to intimidate anyone who might be considered to
    12        be outspoken.
    13
    14        The first time I attended a meeting I made a tentative sort
    15        of enquiry or a minor sort of suggestion about something,
    16        and the Manageress of the store turned on me to try and
    17        humiliate me in front of the rest of the staff, and
    18        actually in her comments alluded to the fact that, "Oh,
    19        Iain is obviously trying to talk himself out of his job
    20        here", which I took as a way of saying:  "You do not really
    21        use this opportunity to criticise us if you want to stay in
    22        employment here".
    23
    24   Q.   Just something -- the last paragraph on that page -- about
    25        staff wanting to sabotage the stores, to "strike back", can
    26        you just say what your attitude was?
    27        A.  What happened was that during this time we were talking
    28        of unionising was in a time when conditions were hard,
    29        people were not allowed to discuss, and people began to get
    30        very frustrated, and a lot of people started, first of all,
    31        in a humorous way, talking about how they could get their
    32        own back on the Company.  This dialogue then developed
    33        into, for some people, a serious idea of breaking into the
    34        store and sabotaging it.  Various ideas were mooted such as
    35        running a hose through the roof and leaving it on all
    36        night, and interfering with the fire suppression equipment
    37        so that when all the grills were turned on all the fire
    38        extinguishers would go off, and that people were so
    39        frustrated that they were seriously considering criminal
    40        damage to the store, putting them -- also risking getting
    41        caught for it as well.
    42
    43   Q.   What was your -----
    44        A.  Well, our attitude was that that was the wrong way to
    45        go about things; rather than staff getting so frustrated
    46        and angry that they would start to consider these sort of
    47        outrageous antics, we thought there should be a proper
    48        voice for the staff where they could air grievances, where
    49        they could be represented by trade union and have a proper
    50        dialogue with the management on an equal footing.  We 
    51        suggested to those people that they should help us in 
    52        building with the union. 
    53
    54   Q.   Why did you leave McDonald's?
    55        A.  Because I got a job in the Civil Service, but initially
    56        I ------
    57
    58   Q.   Sorry, why did you take a different job?
    59        A.  Because I wanted to get out of that environment and
    60        I wanted to earn more.

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