Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 20
1 if they felt that my presence intimidated them, and I have
2 been to many, many crew meetings. Generally, I am well
3 received at a crew meeting. People like the idea of senior
4 personnel coming and spending time with them.
5
6 Q. Do they like the idea of saying to their Manager,
7 Supervisor, Regional Manager and Head of Personnel that
8 they are considering or taking action in joining an
9 organisation which if they tell them about crew conditions
10 that is a sackable offence, if they seek subscriptions, put
11 up notices on the notice board, hold any meetings in the
12 store, that is also a sackable offence, do you think that
13 in the light of that it is not surprising that people might
14 not speak up?
15 A. No.
16
17 Q. McDonald's workers, crew workers, do they feel exploited?
18 A. I do not think so because no-one has said to me they
19 do.
20
21 Q. No. Do they generally feel their pay is low pay?
22 A. No-one has ever expressed that opinion to me. Many
23 have said they wished they would get paid more, absolutely.
24
25 Q. Do they feel that they are being pushed around?
26 A. No. I think your -- the video you showed yesterday
27 indicated that they did not think they were being pushed
28 around; they enjoyed it.
29
30 Q. Basically, Mr. Nicholson, you would not notice disgruntled
31 workers if you were surrounded with thousands of them,
32 would you?
33 A. I would hope I would.
34
35 Q. The reality is you are surrounded by thousands of them, are
36 you not?
37 A. No.
38
39 Q. The reality is, Mr. Nicholson, that you live in cloud
40 cuckoo land regarding -----
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. We can keep it all on a perfectly
43 courteous level. All you need to say is: "You are really
44 not aware of the way crew around the country feel". Then
45 once you ask one question like that, there really is a
46 limit. We will have to see what other evidence is called.
47
48 While you are just pausing, there is one thing I would like
49 to ask about. (To the witness): The Police Federation,
50 does that carry out all the functions of a trades union for
51 Police Officers or not?
52 A. They negotiate pay. You can get your Police Federation
53 representative to represent you if you are on a Discipline
54 Board. They have a welfare ---
55
56 Q. Would it support a claim if you were injured?
57 A. -- department -- I think they might do that too,
58 but -----
59
60 Q. Does it negotiate about pay at all or anything like that?
