Day 187 - 13 Nov 95 - Page 22


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just leave it there, unless there is -----
     3
     4   MR. MORRIS:  I will leave the documents.  Can he just summarise
     5        what the demands of the works inspectorate were?
     6        A.  The works inspectorate came first to verify; and they
     7        noted that in several McDonald's restaurants of Lyon that
     8        the works conditions were difficult.  They sent formal
     9        demands to amend and change these conditions.  On the other
    10        hand, they instituted about 15 legal hearings for failure
    11        to respect the workers' code.
    12
    13   Q.   Can you say what the issues that they made demands were,
    14        just briefly?
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just the areas, the topics?
    17        A.  Going over the legal number of work hours, French law
    18        states that you should not go above 10 hours work daily;
    19        and the workers worked much more than these 10 stipulated
    20        hours.  Second point:  people who are aged less than 18 are
    21        not allowed to work after 10 o'clock at night.  There was
    22        also failure to respect this.  Third point:  the management
    23        of McDonald's make us pay for our uniforms.  In this
    24        matter, the works inspector again had to become involved.
    25        There are many other points.
    26
    27   Q.   Did they make any ruling about -- the work inspectors, make
    28        any demands about the union representatives, conditions for
    29        union representatives?
    30        A.  Yes.  To begin with, these were not done by formal
    31        demand.  They sent letters, included in the documents; and,
    32        following an investigation, they received about 100
    33        employees who gave evidence of the pressure and
    34        intimidation they faced if they tried to vote for the CFDT
    35        list.  From there, the works inspectorate passed these
    36        findings on to the judge; the CFDT formally complained; and
    37        from this point the investigation took in the 12 managers
    38        of the McDonald's branches.
    39
    40   Q.   Did these 100 employees come from just one store or from
    41        many of the stores in Lyon?
    42        A.  No, no, not at all -- from all the McDonald's
    43        branches.  The elections for the work council concerned all
    44        12 McDonald's in Lyon.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause.  Let us take the five minute
    47        break there, anyway, otherwise it will not be of much use.
    48
    49                          (Short Adjournment)
    50 
    51   MR. MORRIS:  If I can continue the statement:  "As for my 
    52        working conditions, nothing has changed in the attitude of 
    53        the management.  The only thing was that in August of 1994
    54        after two years and repeated requests, they gave me two new
    55        uniforms in my size."
    56
    57        I cannot actually remember when this statement was
    58        originally made, when it was served.  I think it was about
    59        a year ago, anyway.
    60

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