Day 301 - 15 Nov 96 - Page 20

     
     1        mostly women.  There is not really much to say about that
     2        really.  Obviously, a lot of McDonald's part-timers are
     3        male, but it does not really make any difference because
     4        the unions generally do not show much interest in the
     5        problems of part-timers for reasons that we have heard --
     6        difficulty in recruiting, all that kind of stuff, the rapid
     7        turnover.
     8
     9        "A recent survey of workers in burger restaurants found
    10        that eighty percent said they needed union help over pay
    11        and conditions."  I think Mr. Pearson said about this,
    12        sympathies, and you have got positive response when
    13        leafleting outside McDonald's, as regards the union help.
    14        And it goes on to say, "Another difficulty is that the
    15        kitchen trade has a high proportion of workers from ethnic
    16        minority groups who, with little chance of getting work
    17        elsewhere, are wary of being sacked, as many have been, for
    18        attempting union organisation."
    19
    20        Now, this "...  little chance of getting work elsewhere"
         can be connected to the last sentence in this whole section
    22        about the point being that people who are getting work in
    23        low paid jobs are people who have little choice about
    24        getting work elsewhere.  That is obviously common sense, as
    25        people do not voluntarily go for the lowest pay jobs unless
    26        they have very little choice.
    27
    28        "... are wary of being sacked, as many have been, for
    29        attempting union organisation."  Again, we are still
    30        talking about the kitchen trade as a whole.  Union
    31        organisation attempts have not exactly been encouraged by
    32        McDonald's and have been vigorously fought, opposed,
    33        discouraged and, in fact, within McDonald's own system are
    34        illegal within the terms and conditions of the crew
    35        handbook.
    36
    37        Then we go on the next sentence, "McDonald's have a policy
    38        of preventing unionisation by getting rid of pro-union
    39        workers."  Unionisation can only take place, effectively,
    40        by people at work communicating with each other, organising
         themselves, having meetings, giving out leaflets to each
    42        other, putting up notices, talking to outside third
    43        parties, all of which McDonald's have a policy of
    44        preventing.  They are disciplinary offences and, indeed,
    45        talking to an outside third party, as Mr. Nicholson said,
    46        that would include unions, is a sackable offence.  Summary,
    47        sackable offence.  So how anybody at McDonald's could
    48        possibly, in this country or indeed anywhere else, without
    49        an enormous amount of effort and laws protecting them,
    50        effectively protecting them, unionise is impossible to
    51        envisage because of McDonald's policies of preventing
    52        unionisation, and as it is a summary, sackable offence to
    53        communicate with trade unions about conditions at a store,
    54        according to their head of personnel, and all the other
    55        things that you would have to do.
    56
    57        It is all very well to say, as McDonald's have said, of
    58        course they have a right to join a trade union as long as
    59        they do not do anything about it, but the whole point about
    60        unionisation, what we are talking about, union organisation