YOUNG ABATTOIR : Letter From A Worker

We publish a letter from a worker at Burrangong Meat Works.

The workers were informed last week they do not have jobs and were terminated without notice- over 300 of them. In addition, the meat works claim they do not have any money to pay us.

It is no doubt big news in your region. Your suspicion of it re- opening with contract labour is a possibility. The jobs are unlikely to go to our people- obviously.

The meat works in Wagga, Cargill ( a multi- national company ), use contract labour; we note a lot of Chinese contract labour, and Sudanese labour. They have a heap of Sudanese out there, most who can't speak a word of English. This brings me to work- cover industrial law.

In some of the duties that contract labourers are engaged in at Cargill ( and I'm sure it's the same at other abattoirs around the country ),Workcover requires certain safety regulations to be followed by law. Certain required tickets, including OH&S, forklift licences etc, have to be completed and passed in English only. A friend who works at a local training facility for these required tickets, commented: "Cargill had sent a Sudanese man to get a forklift license but he couldn't speak a word of English. I had to send him away; what do Cargill think it is sending these people here ?; they know Workcover requires these tests to be completed and passed in English only- that is the law."

Maybe this is another angle you can attack some of these contract labour lovers on. The companies should be audited by Workcover, to reveal any breeches of the industrial law. It is a litigation minefield.

These industrial laws apply to our industries. The construction industry, the transport industry etc. All places of work have a duty of care and a chain of responsibility regarding Workplace safety. The companies are liable in the absence of these requirements.

I know the transport industry is highly scrutinised, audited and these laws are regularly enforced to the letter of the law.

Now, what about the illegal immigrants who have been turning up all over the Riverina and beyond ? How can illegal aliens have any of these required tickets ? How could they have OH&S which is a mandatory requirement to even set foot on most of these industries sites ?What about the Sydney construction company, that was caught last month by the immigration department with the illegal immigrant gyprockers ? They rounded them all up. How could those people have had required white or blue cards issued by Workcover ?

You should demand a public enquiry into these practices, and demand companies in breech of Workcover industrial law be prosecuted.

What we have noticed is a rapid increase in contract labour and refugee labour, in all industry. It is getting out of hand in country NSW and I'm sure other places around Australia.

We are also concerned what will happen to safety in the workplace and quality control, not to mention our prospects of getting a job and a decent wage.

I see that Australia First says it's an ethnic cleansing agenda, targeting European- Australian workers. This would be a good time for your people to stir it up in Young. I suspect many of the jobs on some farms in Young are tied up in contract labour. While people's emotions are raw over this situation at Burrangong Meats, we need some comment from Australia First to explain to these people what might have happened to their jobs.

The receivers of Burrangong Meatworks, think they can pull the wool over the workers` eyes. Like we wouldn't have enough intelligence to realise what is going on! They have appointed some spin doctor to address our concerns tomorrow ( or tell us more lies ), but that attitude is just making us more determined. We have to pay our bills and feed our children.

I would appreciate if you could contact me to discuss what you think is going on, or what we should do.

( Name, address, and phone number supplied but withheld by request ).