Day 141 - 23 Jun 95 - Page 16

     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  At the moment, I would have thought it could
     2        not just be up to the employees; otherwise, you might have
     3        three people working in one corner shop, two in another,
     4        five in another, all employed by the same person, and the
     5        union arguing:  "We want to represent those in the shop on
     6        the corner of Henry Street", or whatever, "only"; and that,
     7        at the moment, would not seem to make sense to me.  But it
     8        is something which ought to be capable of establishment as
     9        a matter of law.  If you say something different prevails
    10        in this country, with or without outside help, you ought to
    11        be able to get a couple of books to demonstrate it to me.
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  Yes, or our witness can.
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  All Mr. Stein has said is -- obviously, that
    16        is his thinking -- it is the situation in the US, and he
    17        would not be surprised if it is the same elsewhere,
    18        although he has been careful to say he does not know.
    19
    20   MS. STEEL:   I cannot remember what volume the crew handbook is
         in.  Is it volume pink XI?  (To the witness)  How often are
    22        crew handbooks produced?
    23        A.  I am not sure I understand your question.  These things
    24        are constantly printed and reprinted, if that is what you
    25        are asking.
    26
    27   Q.   Right.  But how often are they updated?
    28        A.  Annual by annual basis; and it would evolve over time.
    29        So it is not like it suddenly is, you know, ended and a new
    30        one comes in; it evolves as there might be some need for
    31        improvement.
    32
    33   Q.   If you turn to tab 7 -- actually, there may be no need to.
    34        Do franchise stores have rap sessions and crew meetings?
    35        A.  In general, yes, they do.
    36
    37   Q.   Because they are not mentioned in the Franchisee Crew
    38        Handbook?
    39        A.  The handbooks are done in what I call "slicks", which
    40        means these are photocopyable sheets; and I know there are
         photocopyable sheets that are available for the
    42        owner/operators that contain rap sessions and crew
    43        meetings, and all the other things.  That is a basic thing
    44        within the organisation.  I do not know -- I frankly cannot
    45        recall any operator who has not done rap sessions in crew
    46        meetings.
    47
    48   Q.   But the Corporation prepares a Crew Handbook for
    49        franchisees to give to their crew members?
    50        A.  No.  You need to understand.  It is a model book, and 
    51        what we do is, we provide a model and we also 
    52        provide -- I am talking US right now -- we also provide the 
    53        capacity for the owner/operator to pick and choose pages;
    54        and, also, he or she has the right to add additional things
    55        that are pertinent to their store or stores.
    56
    57   Q.   In this model handbook, why was it that you left out the
    58        section entitled "Communications" in the previous Crew
    59        Handbook?  It covers rap sessions and crew meetings, but it
    60        does not appear in the handbook at tab 7 for franchisees.