Day 145 - 29 Jun 95 - Page 52


     
     1        Mr. Stein will say, I will put the question in a different
     2        way.  This is a question to which, if possible, I do know
     3        the answer.  (To the witness):   Mr. Stein, what was your
     4        contact with Mr. Gallein during the course of the Tyson
     5        dispute?
     6        A.  I had first received a letter from him threatening a
     7        worldwide boycott of McDonald's concerning our continuing
     8        to purchase Chicken McNuggets from Tyson.
     9
    10   Q.   Did he carry out that threat?
    11        A.  Yes, but I can also tell you other contact I had with
    12        him during that period.
    13
    14   Q.   Very well.
    15        A.  He rang me up.  He called me, this would be, well, at
    16        the time of the Tyson matter, so we are talking mid-80s, on
    17        the earlier side of the mid-80s, he called me on the
    18        phone.  He asked me whether or not we were going to
    19        continue to purchase Chicken McNuggets from Tysons.  I told
    20        him that we intended to do so.  He told me that he would be
    21        sponsoring a worldwide boycott of McDonald's concerning
    22        that.  I told him that I did not think that was proper or
    23        legal and I went through the secondary boycott discussion
    24        that I think we had here earlier, and he said he still
    25        intended to move forward.  I asked if we could possibly
    26        have a meeting to discuss it further so I could let him
    27        know what all the facts were, because I did not think
    28        McDonald's was doing anything improper, and that if he
    29        heard what the real facts were in the situation then he
    30        would not want to proceed with what he called a "worldwide
    31        boycott".
    32
    33   Q.   Let us try to keep it short.  Did you have that meeting
    34        with him?
    35        A.  Yes, I did, I had that meeting.
    36
    37   Q.   Please let me ask the questions.  You had the meeting with
    38        him?
    39        A.  Yes, I did.
    40
    41   Q.   Did you succeed in persuading him that his proposed boycott
    42        was misconceived or not?
    43        A.  It was at a time when the United Food and Commercial
    44        Workers were already indicating that they were abandoning
    45        their boycott, so we did not specifically get into the
    46        Tysons thing.  He did not want to get into Tysons -- excuse
    47        me, he did not want to get in a long narrative concerning
    48        the Tyson matter.  I told him, though, I pressed him at
    49        that meeting, that we really needed to discuss it because
    50        I thought that his action had been improper, and that he 
    51        should have looked behind the situation before he declared 
    52        the boycott. 
    53
    54   Q.   Did he or did he not accept that?
    55        A.  No, he did not accept that.  He told me that -- we had
    56        exchanged what our backgrounds are and he told me that
    57        I should know from my experience, that is the leader of an
    58        organisation such as his, that it is more in a political
    59        environment where he has to support his constituent members
    60        and take strong positions on behalf of his constituent

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