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.
    60

Prev Next Index