Day 189 - 20 Nov 95 - Page 08

     
     1
     2   Q.   So what happened, then, after you joined the strike?  What
     3        happened then, in terms of what happened to the rest of the
     4        people at Grafton Street?
     5        A.  There was a meeting called.  Management requested staff
     6        to come into work, the Grafton Street staff, and that they
     7        would have a meeting.  That happened.  Members expressed
     8        concerns over issues of pay with them, and the other issues
     9        that I have raised.  The union then organised a meeting in
    10        their union hall for their workers in Grafton Street to go
    11        down to discuss it with them and to put their point of view
    12        across, and also to get an opportunity to hear why the
    13        O'Connell Street workers had come out on strike.
    14
    15   Q.   You attended that union meeting?
    16        A.  Yes, I did.
    17
    18   Q.   How many people from Grafton Street attended?
    19        A.  I would say there were about 25, 30.
    20
    Q.   Then what happened after that, in terms of the
    22        Grafton Street workers?  Sorry.  Most people at that
    23        meeting, were they full-timers, part-timers, or what?
    24        A.  Most of them would be full-time people.  There would
    25        have been some part-time people there.
    26
    27   Q.   So what was the result in terms of what happened?
    28        A.  At that meeting, 15 to 20 people -- I am not exactly
    29        sure of the figure, I think it was somewhere around that --
    30        people decided to join the Irish Transport and General
    31        Workers there and to immediately go on strike.
    32
    33   Q.   Did they physically leave work, or what happened?
    34        A.  No.  I believe the management were informed by the
    35        union by letter that Grafton -- there was now a second
    36        dispute in Grafton Street with McDonald's, and that they
    37        had membership there.  The majority of strikers who came
    38        out were full-time workers, 80 per cent of them.
    39
    40   Q.   80 per cent of?
         A.  The strikers who came out in Grafton Street; the
    42        workers who came out on Grafton Street were full-time
    43        workers, but the majority of people stayed in were probably
    44        part-time.
    45
    46   Q.   What percentage of the full-timers approximately actually
    47        came out on strike?
    48        A.  About 80 per cent.
    49
    50   Q.   You were you elected to any position by the union members 
    51        at Grafton Street? 
    52        A.  Yes.  I was elected to the position of shop steward. 
    53
    54   Q.   Did the McDonald's management know that you were shop
    55        steward at all?
    56        A.  Well, as negotiations were not going on and there was
    57        no way of communicating with management, I am not sure.
    58        But I do know that I was friendly with one of the managers
    59        who knew I was shop steward; so I presumed that she would
    60        have passed on that information.