Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 65
1 interested. However, each person was only
2 prepared to join the union 'as long as other
3 people joined'. They were not prepared to join
4 on their own since they clearly felt
5 vulnerable. Obviously they felt some sort of
6 security in numbers. They generally expressed
7 the desire to see a block join a union, rather
8 than be pioneers themselves. Furthermore, they
9 also insisted that management were not to know
10 that this had been done.
11
12 Most people who I approached thought that they
13 may be sacked if they joined a union. I made
14 all my approaches in strict confidence because
15 employees generally made it quite clear that
16 they were not interested in approaching
17 management and letting them know what was going
18 on until they were properly organised. They
19 seemed to feel that they needed a strong power
20 base before they could start negotiating. I am
21 quite convinced that if management had got wind
22 of what was happening and I had not desisted
23 from my activities I would have been sacked.
24 They would not have used the union as a reason
25 for sacking me. They would have used some other
26 bland and seemingly innocent reason, but they
27 most certainly would have found some reason for
28 doing it. I personally believe very strongly
29 that management are trained to sack union
30 members in a way that makes it impossible for
31 the employee to accuse them of doing it for
32 union reasons.
33
34 Management are not stupid and they know the
35 employment laws. They know that they would be
36 in serious trouble if they gave us a reason for
37 sacking somebody the fact that that person
38 belonged to a trade union.
39
40 It is impossible to pinpoint how management
41 managed to give these impressions, but they most
42 definitely engendered such perceptions. It was
43 partly a matter of rumour, but rumour of which
44 management were fully aware and did nothing to
45 dispel. Other employees expressed exactly the
46 same fears as I did when I suggested starting a
47 union. They all seemed to think that since
48 there were no unions in McDonald's, McDonald's
49 would be very hostile and that the reason why
50 there were no unions in McDonald's was due to
51 the fact that McDonald's removed anybody who
52 belonged to a union.
53
54 Despite the element of fear, I am very sure that
55 if I had persevered with my attempts I would
56 have succeeded in joining up the 30 or 40 people
57 who had indicated their interest. However, my
58 efforts came to an abrupt end when management
59 stepped in to halt matters. I was away from
60 work for a week and came in one Sunday night
