Day 301 - 15 Nov 96 - Page 21

     
     1        and unionisation are the two key words in those sentences.
     2        Unionisation, we are not talking about people joining, you
     3        know, a model railway club or something in their part
     4        time.  We are talking about trying to improve pay and
     5        conditions by getting organised in the workplace.  Unions
     6        are not some kind of academic debating society that
     7        individuals join because they have nothing else to do.  We
     8        are talking about having some protection by organising
     9        themselves against a very well-organised and powerful
    10        company.  Any company.
    11
    12        So that is, as we would say, quite clear what it says and
    13        it has all been proven.  And when it says 'getting rid of
    14        pro-union workers', obviously, something that is a sackable
    15        offence would be pretty clear, but as we have heard there
    16        are ways of getting rid of people that McDonald's do not
    17        like, who do not fit into the family atmosphere, as they
    18        portray it, or have the wrong attitude or commit one of the
    19        trivial so-called offences.  That would give McDonald's a
    20        justification for getting rid of them or sacking them or
         using the stick as a form of discipline, or whatever.  It
    22        does not actually say 'sack', the word 'sack' there, but
    23        there are ways of getting people to leave.
    24
    25        I will carry on reading.  "So far this has succeeded
    26        everywhere in the world except Sweden and in Dublin after a
    27        long struggle."  I don't know what the situation was in
    28        1986 when this leaflet was apparently written, but we
    29        certainly heard about Dublin and we have heard about the
    30        few countries where there is employment protection or a
    31        very strong labour movement where McDonald's have clearly
    32        been forced against their wishes to accept some kind of
    33        union rights.  "Trained to sweat" -----
    34
    35   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Right.  If you have reached a break in the
    36        leaflet, we will have our five minute break.
    37
    38                         (Short Adjournment)
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:   The next part of this section, entitled 'Trained
         to Sweat'.  "It is obvious that all our chain stores and
    42        junk food giants depend for their fat profits on the labour
    43        of young people."  Here we have a clear statement aimed at
    44        all large chain stores and junk food giants saying...  And
    45        then the next sentence, "McDonald's is no exception."
    46        We have heard from Mr. Pearson -- we will come to that
    47        later -- that the age profile is low in the catering
    48        industry as a whole, not just at McDonald's.  McDonald's is
    49        no exception, three-quarters of its workers are under 21.
    50        I think we have heard it is two-thirds in the years that we
    51        have got the details of.  That is not effectively any
    52        different.
    53
    54        "The production line system", it says, "deskills the work
    55        itself."  That is, the work of cooking in particular.
    56        "Anybody can grill a hamburger, and cleaning toilets or
    57        smiling at customers needs no training."  That is hardly
    58        defamatory.  I mean, you could argue that smiling does need
    59        training.  Cleaning toilets need training.  But I think the
    60        sting of that point, that whole line, is that-----