Day 303 - 19 Nov 96 - Page 27
1 been a dispute inside McDonald's and a strike threat which
2 resulted in union recognition, and he was the union rep for
3 McDonald's workers when he gave evidence.
4
5 We also heard from Hasen Lamti and the situation in Lyons,
6 France. He was the trade union rep and he related how five
7 McDonald's managers were arrested for trying to rig union
8 elections in July 1994, how he was harassed for union
9 activity, wrongly accused of making bomb threats to the
10 store and of other so-called criminal activities, and an
11 attempt was made to frame him for armed robbery, and he was
12 offered a bribe if he renounced the union. But, despite
13 that, the union branch -- he was originally proposed by the
14 Manager to be the official works council rep because they
15 thought that the Company should put a stooge up, but he
16 took the job seriously and began to work for improved
17 conditions.
18
19 And he was vindicated completely by the fact that, as he
20 told the court, he had won so far over 20 court judgments
21 against the Company against harassment of union activity
22 and illegal business practices through the union branch.
23 His evidence was backed up by Chantal Villeneuve.
24
25 Despite these judgments against the franchisee at Lyons,
26 was the manager, was the owner, disbarred from McDonald's,
27 disciplined in any way, reeducated? No, he was promoted to
28 be head of McDonald's France, which could only happen with
29 the complete sanction and support of the McDonald's
30 Corporation and their global structures and that, if
31 evidence was needed, says it all really.
32
33 We have also brought evidence from trade union
34 representatives for McDonald's workers, union members at
35 McDonald's in New Zealand. We heard from the general
36 secretary of the relevant union that was supporting
37 McDonald's workers in Australia. And any one of these
38 union disputes would be a snapshot of a much wider picture
39 because of the uniform nature of the McDonald's Corporation
40 and its system. The involvement of, for example, Mr. Stein
41 at so many of these relevant disputes, in fact, even turned
42 up in the Canada one as well. I think I said that
43 actually. Any one of them would give an indication really
44 of the true character of McDonald's and their concern to do
45 anything they can to prevent unionisation, but there are
46 enough countries there and enough examples to, we would
47 say, be a convincing picture of the Company's attitude.
48
49 Coming back to England, obviously we heard from Dave
50 Turnbull from the Transport and General Workers Union, the
51 food and drink workers representative for London and
52 south-east, and he informed the court about low wages, poor
53 conditions and high turnover in the catering industry, and
54 how difficult it is for workers to gain union recognition
55 due to the nature of the industry and the hostility of
56 employers to unions. Despite this, the TGWU, he said, had
57 won representation, recognition and improvement in a number
58 of companies and he could see no reason why McDonald's
59 workers should be denied such basic human rights.
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