Day 301 - 15 Nov 96 - Page 44
1 probably, from the evidence, pick out a dozen or 15 things
2 where there would be an immediate improvement.
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Then you must tell me about those, if you
5 can.
6
7 MR. MORRIS: Performance related pay could be 50 pence
8 increase, that -----
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are saying that in negotiations, the
11 union would immediately achieve that improvement, are you?
12
13 MR. MORRIS: I don't know about immediately, but the point is
14 that ----
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I did not really get that, you see, from your
17 two union witnesses, I do not mind saying. I thought they
18 were really quite impressive witnesses, partly because they
19 did not, it seemed to me, overstate the case so far as this
20 was concerned.
21
22 MR. MORRIS: No, I thought they were very cautious. But, no,
23 obviously there would be a whole package of things which
24 would immediately improve the situation. First of all, you
25 would have protection, you would not be an isolated
26 individual to be picked off, you could deal with
27 grievances, you could have legal representation, you would
28 have all the benefit of advice about the law and
29 comparisons to other industries to back you up.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not go too fast.
32
33 MR. MORRIS: You could deal with any individual managers who
34 were harassing you rather than face to face, i.e.,
35 whatever, you could have -- that could be a collective
36 issue.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It does not have to be a collective issue.
39 What you can say is you would have someone who would be
40 able to represent you instead of being face to face with
41 the manager concerned, and it is more likely that it would
42 be sorted out to the satisfaction of the employee.
43
44 MR. MORRIS: Yes, that there would be negotiations over
45 specific conditions, there would be improvements over
46 specific conditions, understaffing, you know, break times
47 would be respected, to be had at the right time. All the
48 things, statutory and so-called policies of the company,
49 could be enforced. Would be watched like a hawk, no doubt,
50 by union representatives. There would be health and safety
51 representatives who would have the power to stop production
52 if there was a safety issue. For example, sewage on the
53 floor or an unsafe machine that might lead to someone being
54 electrocuted, where handles have not been changed, say, for
55 three months or something.
56
57 Obviously, the biggest battles are always over wages,
58 because, you know, companies do not want to give up any of
59 their profits. But staffing levels would be increased,
60 overtime would be paid. McDonald's profits would fall a
