Day 006 - 05 Jul 94 - Page 71
1
Q. So do you not have to be sure he spends his time wisely?
2 A. Yes.
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Might I suggest you put it in a more direct
way, because what you are really suggesting is that, say
4 that he went because he was concerned they may not have
been running their labour relations very well, is a labour
5 conduct; he really went because McDonald's shudders at the
thought of union membership.
6
MR. MORRIS: Does McDonald's shudder at the thought of union
7 membership?
A. No. I think the statement makes perfectly clear
8 Mr. Nicholson reinforced the fact that if people want to
join a union that is their prerogative to do so.
9
Q. He is going to go down to any store where this happens and
10 tell people that, is he?
A. Well, I have no idea whether he will go to every
11 store. He went to this store. He readily admits he did.
Maybe he took someone with him for training purposes.
12 I have no idea. Maybe this was not, as you allege,
McDonald's frightened because of X, Y and Z. Maybe it was
13 an opportunity to not only take himself down and do
whatever had to be done, but educate someone in the
14 process. I have no way of knowing what made him go and
say these things. Whether he went alone or took a battery
15 of people with him, you will have to ask him that.
16 Q. I am just reading from his statement. He does say that
the manager contacted him and said "there were a number of
17 crew members wanting to a join the Transport & General
Workers Union. It was my view that if the staff were
18 considering joining a union there may be a problem with a
communications at the store, and I therefore went to the
19 store" etc. "to discuss this". So because a store manager
-----
20 A. It is not unusual.
21 Q. So it was not really a local level problem, was it? It
suddenly became a national level problem?
22 A. No, it is not unusual for senior members of the
company, be it OPs managers, market managers, heads of
23 personnel, to attend rap sessions or sessions of any kind
at any level throughout the company: No. 1, just to keep
24 in tune with what is happening; No. 2, as a training
exercise for themselves and others as part of their
25 overall McDonald's responsibility.
26 Q. If we turn over the page to page 14?
A. Yes.
27
Q. There is another example which the defendants have put in
28 their pleadings in Hackney, East Ham, sorry. I believe it
is the Mayor Street branch in or around 1985. Again
29 Mr. Nicholson recollects this event very clearly; they
considered joining a union?
30 A. Yes.
