Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 05

     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I suggest is, why not go all the way
     2        through it in one go, Mr. Morris?
     3
     4   MR. MORRIS:  I am going to read out this statement in one go.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Then just ask at the end about the truth of
     7        it.
     8
     9   MR. MORRIS:  (To the witness):  I will just read out your
    10        statement.
    11
    12        "My main responsibilities included recruiting and servicing
    13        employees in the hotel and catering industry including the
    14        fast-food sector.  On various occasions throughout my
    15        period of office I was involved in recruitment activities
    16        in McDonald's.  This includes a series of contacts with
    17        various outlets in 1987-88.
    18
    19        "2.  I made the following statement on 30th September 1988
    20        whilst employed by the Transport and General Workers
         Union:  'McDonald's is a difficult firm to deal with from a
    22        trade union point of view.  I have been refused access to
    23        the staff on the premises of at least two outlets
    24        (Warren Street and Narrow Way, Hackney) despite speaking to
    25        local managers, even though this was to meet staff in their
    26        break times.  In at least one case a lay union organiser
    27        found that he had trade union material stolen from his
    28        locker and was told by management that they can do what
    29        they like.  They admitted to the employee that they did
    30        steal the material.  I was dismayed by this action by
    31        management because I was assured by the lay member that he
    32        had openly given the material to staff whilst they were off
    33        duty and I was assured that the initial response from staff
    34        was very enthusiastic.
    35
    36        "3. Staff in other units have told me that they were afraid
    37        to join a union because they were told not to or because
    38        they feared the sack if they did so or because they were
    39        told by management that there was no union in McDonald's.
    40        I believe that they took this to mean that they were not
         allowed to join a union and that management was happy to
    42        leave them with this impression.  The other units referred
    43        to in paragraph 3 above were in Queensway and
    44        Holloway Road, London.
    45
    46        "4.  I have undertaken research on the following areas:
    47        the level of trade union membership within the hotel and
    48        catering industry, especially within London and the
    49        South East; difficulties experienced by employees and trade
    50        union organisers in developing that membership, with 
    51        specific reference to such factors as labour turnover and 
    52        management hostility to collective forms of representation; 
    53        the attempts made by" (I think that is) "lay union members
    54        to advise and assist colleagues facing unfair work
    55        practices; the level of pay and the extent of low pay
    56        within this sector; the problem of unequal pay for women
    57        and black employees compared with male earning; the
    58        advantages of the minimum wages set by the (now abolished)
    59        wages councils in helping to alleviate low and unequal pay.
    60