Text 4: At a Meeting

Yesterday the Welfare Committee of the Harper and Grant Company gathered to discuss a number of issues concerning the well being and the health or safety of employees. On this Committee sit representatives of the various departments in the company. A maintenance fitter, Roy Briggs, speaks for the men employees; the women who work on the shop floor are represented by Miss Tappett, and Miss Prince speaks for the clerical staff. The Personnel Manager is the Chairman of the Committee. The Company Secretary, Mr. William Buckhurst, is also a member of the committee, but he was unable to be present yesterday.

The meeting was opened by Mr. Ian Hampden, the Chairman:

“Miss Prince, Miss Tappett, Mr. Briggs… Well, I think everyone’s here, except the Company Secretary, Mr. Buckhurst. I’m afraid he can’t join us this morning because he has to meet the Mayor for the opening of the new factory extension. By the way, we’ll have to be fairly brief if we’re to be down there before eleven. We don’t want to miss the official opening, do we?”

“No, we don’t.”

“Then I declare the meeting open. We have three items on the agenda (order of business) – Reactions from the Staff to the New Canteen, Payments by Cheque, and Any Other Business. Are there any additions or amendments to the proposed agenda?”

“I move we adopt the agenda as it stands.”

“Any objections?”

“None,” said some of those present from their places. “Then the agenda stands,” announced the chairman. “Let’s take the minutes of the last meeting as read, if you agree?” There were murmurs of assent. “Well, the report on the first item on today’s agenda, which arises out of the last meeting, will be made by Miss Tappett. Let me remind you that it was agreed by the Committee to collect reactions from the staff to the new canteen and the new serving counters, which were designed to speed up the rate of service. Shall we adopt any regulations as to procedure?”

Mr. Briggs rose and said,” I move that we set (fix) the time limit for the report at 10 minutes and allow each speaker 5 minutes for discussion (in debate).”

Ms. Prince objected to the proposal. “I move that we do not limit the speaker and that we allow 10 minutes for debate (discussion).”

“Are there any other motions?” asked the chairman.

As no one replied he decided to put the matter to the vote.

“All those in favor of the motion to allow 10 minutes for the report and 5 minutes for debate please raise your hands.” The chairman then counted the show of hands.

“Who is in favor of the second motion (not to fix any time limit for the report and allow 10 minutes for discussion)?”

The majority voted for the first motion and so the chairman gave Ms. Tappett the floor, reminding her that she had only 10 minutes. The chairman then turned to Ms. Prince and asked her to take minutes (of the meeting). Normally, it is Mr. Buckhurst who makes a note of the business discussed, decisions taken and so on. Later, he dictates these notes to his secretary, who then types them. Everyone who was at the meeting will get a copy of the minutes. But as Mr. Buckhurst was absent, Ms. Prince had to take the minutes for him.

“Ms. Tappett has the floor for the report on item 1 of the agenda.”

The meeting listened to the speaker very attentively. After she had finished, some of those present had a number of questions to ask. The chairman suggested that the questions be submitted in writing and meanwhile the discussion be continued. As no objections were raised the meeting passed on to the discussion.

After a while Mr. Briggs took the floor and moved that further discussion be closed as everybody had already spoken and there was little time at the Committee’s disposal if they wanted to be present at the official opening. The chairman seconded his motion and no one objected to it. After a vote was taken on this point it was clear that the motion was carried out unanimously. Then the chairman gave the floor to Ms. Tappett for her closing statement (to sum up the discussion). After the statement was over Mr. Briggs proposed that the meeting adopt a resolution which outlined a number of measures to improve the situation with the canteen as there were some complaints, though not serious.

This resolution met with stiff opposition and many amendments were proposed. It was clear that the proposed resolution couldn’t be adopted as it stood. Then the chairman proposed that the committee work out a resolution later that day. This motion was carried out unanimously. The chairman passed on to the second item of the agenda.

“The suggestion was made that all wages in future be paid by cheque instead of in cash. The idea is to avoid drawing large sums of money every week from a bank, with the possible danger of robbery. Mr. Briggs undertook to enquire into this. Now, he has the floor for his report.”

“I made quite extensive enquiries, Mr. Hampden. Some people didn’t object to the idea. They understood the point about safety. But the majority of people, especially the male staff, didn’t want to hear about it. They like to see their money. Most of them asked when they’d have time to go to a bank.”

Ms. Prince remarked that the workers’ wives could draw the money from the bank. Mr. Briggs answered that most men preferred to handle their own money.

“ In my view that is a very old-fashioned attitude,” Ms. Prince retorted.

“Maybe, but that is the majority opinion,” was Mr. Briggs’ reply. The argument grew rather heated and the chairman was forced to call the meeting to order.

“Well, I gather there’s not much point in pursuing this matter, anyway for the time being.” The chairman suggested that the solution to the problem be put off till the meeting of the Management and Personnel; he also added that in his opinion, they should put the matter to the vote so that everybody in the company would know the point of view of the Welfare Committee. The majority of the Committee voted in favor of paying wages in cheque.

“Well,” said the chairman, “ next we come to Any Other Business part, that is to the question of sports facilities, and I’d first like to make a statement about this. As you know, the management is seriously interested in using the area of land beyond the new extension. One suggestion is that some form of sports ground be provided. They ask the Welfare Committee to make recommendations. As a preliminary I think we should put forward our own views on the matter. Roy, perhaps we could start with your opinion.”

Mr. Briggs said that he thought if there was enough money the land should be levelled and made into a football field. The majority of employees are men, and football is their favorite sport. He strongly recommended a football pitch. Miss Prince disagreed with Mr. Briggs saying that there are still a lot of women in the firm and it would be most unfair if the men were given special treatment in that way.

The chairman asked Miss Tappett what she thought about the matter. She would rather like things as they were. Mr. Briggs then proposed that they ask for suggestions from everyone first. Then they could take a ballot. Miss Prince argued that if there were a ballot, the majority would win. She thought that more interest should be taken in minority opinions. The chairman said that the first thing was to get information and asked if Mr. Briggs would like to make himself responsible for getting suggestions from the staff.

The meeting worked out no resolution at that moment because they had to adjourn the meeting due to the official opening of the new factory extension. But the Committee met later that day and drew up a resolution that incorporated all the questions discussed and all the motions made. The wording of all the three paragraphs was worked out carefully and the resolution was prepared to be adopted as the draft (as the basis, in principle) by the next meeting of the management and personnel. After some amendments and additions to the final text of the resolution it will be adopted as a whole.