Day 139 - 21 Jun 95 - Page 59
1 interested in the traditional wages, hours and working
2 conditions, that many of his meetings would turn into
3 political insults and gyrations by these folks, and when he
4 tried to get it back to wages and terms and conditions of
5 employment they were not interested; they were talking
6 about the imperialism of the United States Government and
7 all the things that their party stood for.
8
9 Q. You do not think that the expansion of McDonald's
10 internationally is also a political act?
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. Do not bother to answer that.
13
14 MR. MORRIS: It is relevant to the ----
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. I rule against that. Stick to your
17 union matter, and when you come to your comments at the end
18 of the case, if you think that is relevant to any
19 particular matter, argue it to me.
20
21 MR. MORRIS: You would have preferred if the union, or he would
22 have preferred if the union had been militant over wages
23 and conditions?
24 A. He wanted to fulfil his obligation of dealing with
25 those issues, not with political issues.
26
27 Q. What were the unfair labour practice claims made to
28 Mr. Miller by the union?
29 A. The union claimed that the names on the -- that -- the
30 employees had signed a petition saying they no longer
31 wanted the union and the union claimed that Don Miller had
32 inspired them to do that.
33
34 Q. The NLRB, did they ever hold another election or anything?
35 A. No, they did not.
36
37 Q. No. There was not a sufficient show of interest for them
38 to do that?
39 A. The NLRB held that the employees' petition was not
40 valid and that Miller should continue to recognise and
41 negotiate with the union.
42
43 Q. But Mr. Miller did not want to do that?
44 A. He wound up doing it; he did it.
45
46 Q. So why was there a strike then?
47 A. If I might, he had withdrawn recognition.
48
49 Q. Of the union?
50 A. Of the union. They were on strike. That is when
51 I arrived in Puerto Rico. After that, the NLRB and their
52 proceedings determined that Mr. Miller should again
53 recognise the union and that was what happened, and he did.
54
55 Q. Then while you were there, yes, you decided to withdraw
56 co-operation from Mr. Miller because he would not move to
57 Puerto Rico?
58 A. That is correct, and that was before there was any
59 ruling at all from the NLRB. That was in the middle of the
60 process, and we alerted him that we would provide him help
