1    This is only a sample transcript for Court Reporter Pro

 2                         (At this point, Mr. Richard

 3                  Hernandez, Mr. Bob Rickman, Mr. Paul

 4                  Harry, and Mr. Kerry Bush entered the

 5                  hearing room.)

 6    

 7               TESTIMONY OF THE SHOP DIRECTORS

 8    

 9                  Mr. RICKMAN:  The reason I have asked the

10    shop directors to come in here is because there is a

11    certain process that we follow when we make decisions

12    in the shop.  One of the things that we do is that we

13    meet on a weekly basis from roughly 10:00 in the

14    morning until 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon.  It is a

15    pretty intensive meeting, and there is a lot of

16    exchange and a lot of dialog that goes on.

17                  And we discuss all shop matters and all

18    decisions that are made in the shop, or at least at

19    one level.  Those discussions are discussed among this 

20    group in a pretty open fashion.  And I will let them 

21    speak to that.  

22                  I want them to give you an idea of the 

23    discussions that we went through relative to 

24    Mr. Richards and whether or not he should be held to

25    the 10:00 to 4:00.  Let's face it, this thing breaks

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 1    down, basically, to a time issue.  We are saying that we 

 2    have a right as an institution to require Mr. Richards

 3    to stay in the shop until four o'clock.

 4                  Every other employee is asked to do that

 5    and does it for the most part.  If they do leave, they 

 6    have to get permission from their supervising shop

 7    director.

 8                  Is that true in all the case in the 

 9    shop?

10                         (All four witnesses nodded their

11                  heads up and down in the affirmative.) 

12                  Do any of your employees leave before

13    four o'clock if they are on a 10:00 to 4:00 shift 

14    without permission from you? 

15                         (All four witnesses shook their

16                  head from side to side in the negative.)

17                  THE REPORTER:  You will need to answer 

18    verbally so that I can get in on the record.

19                  MR. NILES:  No.

20                  MR. HERNANDEZ:  No.

21                  MR. MARTINS:  No.

22                  MR. BUSH:  No.

23                  MR. WONG:  All four say no.

24                  MR. RICKMAN:   What I am trying to

25    establish is that we expect our shop people to

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 1    fulfill their contract to stay in the shop during the

 2    hours that they contracted to be there.

 3                  Now, if there are any special arrangements 

 4    that are made, such as Mr. Schelly's or anybody else's,

 5    that has to be approved through the shop manager.

 6    And that's the way we function in all shops.

 7                  Again, am I saying the truth here?

 8                  MR. HERNANDEZ:  Yes.

 9                  MR. BUSH:  Yes.

10                  MR. NILES:  Yes.

11                  MR. MARTINS:  Yes.

12                  MR. RICKMAN:   Again, the issue here is

13    does the shop have a right to ask Mr. Richards to do

14    what everybody else is doing in the shop system?  It's

15    as simple as that.  And it's as straightforward as that 

16    as far as I'm concerned.  

17                  Now, we had a discussion when Mr. Sawyer

18    had to be replaced by Mr. Melon, and the issue of

19    whether or not Mr. Richards ought to be asked to

20    maintain the schedule that he was given a memorandum 

21    about on July 9, whether or not we should go ahead and 

22    continue to do what Mr. Marshall had done on an

23    informal basis or not.

24                  And I guess I'm just going to ask you to 

25    comment on that individually.  What was your -- start 

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 1    with you, Chuck.  What was your attitude about that?

 2                  MR. HERNANDEZ:  That was the issue on the

 3    table at the time during the directors' meeting.  And I 

 4    had agreed that Mr. Richards would have to conform to

 5    the normal hours from 10:00 to 4:00.  And I'll let the 

 6    other employees speak for themselves.

 7                  MR. RICKMAN:   Kevin was director of the

 8    Wright Brothers Shop at that time.

 9                  MR. BUSH:  Yes, I remember that meeting.

10    Basically, we agreed that he should have to stick to the 

11    same schedule.  And we all agreed that he should have

12    to conform to a normal schedule.

13                  MR. RICKMAN:  Mr. Harry?

14                  MR. NILES:  Exactly.  Three o'clock is one

15    of the busiest times in the shop.  And you need all

16    your floor supervisors on the floor at that time.  

17    Everyone agreed that that was an appropriate thing to 

18    do.

19                  MR. RICKMAN:  Mr. Rickman?

20                  MR. MARTINS:  I agreed that Mr. Richards

21    should observe the standard shift from 10:00 to 4:00.  

22    That's also my opinion.

23                  MR. RICKMAN:   And the reason that we felt

24    as a group that this was an appropriate thing to do was 

25    because of, as I recall, the amount of activity that 

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