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Meat factory clusters?

Sheepdish1

Why are there so many clusters in meat factories?

I don't have any experience working in one so I don't really understand the workflow but I would assume most of the preparation of the meat needs to be carried out by hand until ready to process. I assume the animals are slaughtered, bled, chilled, carcass prepared, processed and packaged in the one factory?

Due to the nature of the work ( handling raw meat products etc ) is it not possible for workers to be protected properly with PPE to stop it spreading in these factories? Is it not feasible for them to wear PPE? It sounds like a tough working environment but why are these workers contracting the virus more than other factory workers?

Thank you

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the purple tin

Cilldara_2000 wrote: »

I don't disagree but I think this would be incredibly difficult to actually do. You'd end up eating nothing but spuds and only drinking milk, wearing hippie ethical clothes that cost three or four times more than the products made in sweatshops, and you'd have virtually no electronics given how far up the hole of deeply unpleasant far east regimes that particular industry is.

Farmers markets ftw. Support the small farmer directly. Guaranteed Irish, locally produced. Cut out the greedy corporations, and you get a far superior product too.

Man with broke phone

the purple tin wrote: »

Farmers markets ftw. Support the small farmer directly. Guaranteed Irish, locally produced. Cut out the greedy corporations, and you get a far superior product too.

Do the local farmers give a lad 50 euro a day and tell him to claim social, or have a few foreign lads living out in a shed at harvest time?

WoollyRedHat

I've updated OP to include email addresses of relevant bodies . Please contact them and voice your concerns.

beggars_bush

JasonStatham wrote: »

Direct provision is such a scam.

Money making scam for those running those centres

WoollyRedHat

Could people suggest how consumers can buy farm direct, with guarantee that they don't exploit their workers.

the purple tin

Man with broke phone wrote: »

Do the local farmers give a lad 50 euro a day and tell him to claim social, or have a few foreign lads living out in a shed at harvest time?

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Could people suggest how consumers can buy farm direct, with guarantee that they don't exploit their workers.

Ask them. Most farmers who sell in farmer's markets are small family outfits who would be proud of what they produce. Most of them would be happy to let people come to the farm and show them around as well. Some of them sell direct from the farm.
So ask for a nosey round next time you are buying from them. Take the family it would be a nice day out.

CeeCeeBloom

I work in the offices of a meat plant.

Office to be staffed for no apparent reason as per comms today.

I've asked for clarity as to why we need to break the government guidelines as I would need to leave a non locked down area and go to a lockdown area when I have the ability do my job too its full potential from home.

Is there a body I could ring and ask for guidance on how to manage it with the company?

Man with broke phone

the purple tin wrote: »

Ask them. Most farmers who sell in farmer's markets are small family outfits who would be proud of what they produce. Most of them would be happy to let people come to the farm and show them around as well. Some of them sell direct from the farm.
So ask for a nosey round next time you are buying from them. Take the family it would be a nice day out.

Farmers moan the whole time that they are worked to the bone for no money, and now you are saying we can all head down to their farm with our gamilies for a walk around? Guided tours, buy a six pack of eggs, be grand like.

WoollyRedHat

CeeCeeBloom wrote: »

I work in the offices of a meat plant.

Office to be staffed for no apparent reason as per comms today.

I've asked for clarity as to why we need to break the government guidelines as I would need to leave a non locked down area and go to a lockdown area when I have the ability do my job too its full potential from home.

Is there a body I could ring and ask for guidance on how to manage it with the company?

Contact the Health Safety Authority at wcu@hsa.ie
You could also contact the WRC. I don't have email address but there's a email form online.

WoollyRedHat

Man with broke phone wrote: »

Farmers moan the whole time that they are worked to the bone for no money, and now you are saying we can all head down to their farm with our gamilies for a walk around? Guided tours, buy a six pack of eggs, be grand like.

It's actually quite innovative I think.

MickeyLeari

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/meat-plant-clusters-may-be-down-to-softly-softly-approach-1.4324924

Essential reading - recognises the nuances, the economic damage and that there have been significant failings.

Jim Root

CeeCeeBloom wrote: »

I work in the offices of a meat plant.

Office to be staffed for no apparent reason as per comms today.

I've asked for clarity as to why we need to break the government guidelines as I would need to leave a non locked down area and go to a lockdown area when I have the ability do my job too its full potential from home.

Is there a body I could ring and ask for guidance on how to manage it with the company?

Twitter shame should sort that out

Cilldara_2000

Jim Root wrote: »

Twitter shame should sort that out

Could well sort out the poster's P45 too.

Mr rebel

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

1400 Brazilians given work permits last year, unsure exact breakdown for meat industry, details here...

https://dbei.gov.ie/en/Publications/Employment-Permit-Statistics-2019.html

The vast majority of Brazilians work in part time jobs in hospitality or retail, mostly as baristas.

[Deleted User]

the purple tin wrote: »

Ask them. Most farmers who sell in farmer's markets are small family outfits who would be proud of what they produce. Most of them would be happy to let people come to the farm and show them around as well. Some of them sell direct from the farm.
So ask for a nosey round next time you are buying from them. Take the family it would be a nice day out.

Indeed I know one organic pig farmer who does his own butchery and sells at the farmers' markets, and I once stayed in his accommodation on the farm.

Montage of Feck

MickeyLeari wrote: »

Is it Polish meat?

Is it meat even? The meat industry is never far from scandal.

i_surge

the purple tin wrote: »

Farmers markets ftw. Support the small farmer directly. Guaranteed Irish, locally produced. Cut out the greedy corporations, and you get a far superior product too.

I would love to see this widespread and done right.

Farm produce at farm prices for normal people daily. Not a tiny over inflated hipster thing one morning a week

touts

MickeyLeari wrote: »

Is it Polish meat?

Ireland is really only self sufficient in Beef. Most of the pork and chicken we eat comes from Eastern Europe frozen in bulk and gets processed here. We do produce pork and chicken but not nearly enough.

wrangler

touts wrote: »

Ireland is really only self sufficient in Beef. Most of the pork and chicken we eat comes from Eastern Europe frozen in bulk and gets processed here. We do produce pork and chicken but not nearly enough.

Most of the beef and lamb produced here is exported, the little bit that's sold in farmers market isn't going to put the big processors out of business.
Simon Coveney isn't married to goodmans niece... that's just more of the conspiracy BS

Darc19

I love how the op says that the meat industry person skirts around the questions asked.

Maybe sinn fein are afraid of competition in the "direct answer avoidance" stakes.

Glass houses, stones and all that.

JP Liz V1

Who is the government minister over this now?

JP Liz V1

dhaughton99 wrote: »

I asked this on another thread but should Brady’s ham and the likes be pulled from from the shelves or boycotted?

Yes I won't be buying but was still on sale in Dunnes today

bluelamp

Mr rebel wrote: »

The vast majority of Brazilians work in part time jobs in hospitality or retail, mostly as baristas.

Yeah 1400 isn't a huge amount really in a year either. I'd imagine at least 1200 of them are student types living in Dublin city centre.

I doubt many headed to Timahoe - like any young groups abroad, they're here to party for a couple of years and have fun.

mloc123

dhaughton99 wrote: »

I asked this on another thread but should Brady’s ham and the likes be pulled from from the shelves or boycotted?

I'll never buy it again anyway

WoollyRedHat

Darc19 wrote: »

I love how the op says that the meat industry person skirts around the questions asked.

Maybe sinn fein are afraid of competition in the "direct answer avoidance" stakes.

Glass houses, stones and all that.

Am I wrong❔

Donald Trump

Man with broke phone wrote: »

Do the local farmers give a lad 50 euro a day and tell him to claim social, or have a few foreign lads living out in a shed at harvest time?

50 Euro a day cash?
It would be cheaper to pay someone minimum wage and have them on the books

In relation to the meat factories and asylum seekers, how many on here are aware that if you take on an asylum seeker who was granted status, you get a grant of 150 a week for them for two years. If you take them on for 30 hours a week @ 10.10 an hour then sure they are getting paid 303 a week gross and the factory owner effectively has a net bill of a fiver an hour for them (if paying minimum rates)

maestroamado

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

https://twitter.com/mattcarthy/status/1291693959228661760?s=20

This was the communication from the representative of Meat Industries Ireland back in July when questioned by a TD about compliance/ about potential outbreaks in their industry and if they had engaged with employee union.Please watch this video to understand the nature of Irish corporate society.When asked direct questions about engagement with the unions, the representative skirted around the issue. The disregard for employees is shocking throughout.

The representative when pressed gave an incomprehensible answer that is reminiscent of Brian Cowen's bumbling communications. What's worse is this is a clear style of communication, pushed by public advisers. These people aren't thick but they are extremely dubious.

The race to the bottom for a quick buck is inherent in the structure of these organisations. They prey off of migrant workers and stamp on basic employee rights and the most galling thing is that they won't answer for this. We need to call a halt to these practices, they're a human rights issue and a public health one too.

People who are surprised about outbreaks in meat factories shouldn't be after watching that video.. pure arrogance.

ETA: I would like to encourage people to campaign to both ABP Food Group and Meat Industry Ireland and ask them the following questions:

1. How much is the average wage paid out to frontline factory workers (excluding accommodation provision) and what is average working week for said workers? How many staff are sub-contractors and what is the total payable wage to these workers?

2. Do you provide shared accommodation to migrant workers and if so, what is the average number of workers housed per Sq.m?

3. If an employee gets sick, do you pay them sick leave and for how long?

4. What is typical tenure of a meat factory worker?

I would also encourage people to send in FOI requests to ascertain what is total amount of financial donations made by Larry Goodman, family members/ business associates of ABP Food Group to the main political parties to date, with a detailed breakdown.

Lastly, please contact Meat Industries Ireland and ask what measures have been put in place to make meat factories safe. Ask them how compliance has been monitored to date. Is there a log of potential breaches by factories that could or have led to an outbreak? Ask for official policy to be provided so they can't just make something off the cuff. Ask about number of complaints raised by employees in Meat Factories in relation to Covid protocols since March.

Also please read the profile of the highly influential businessman Larry Goodman who has been calling the shots for decades.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Goodman

Email addresses:
info@abpfoodgroup.com
info@meatindustryireland.ie
dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie
info@agriculture.gov.ie
info@bordbia.ie
info@siptu.ie
Info@ifa.ie
matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie

This guy does not know what he is talking about.

https://www.hsa.ie/eng This is the HSA

Their job is to monitor and do as they see as per their remit.

I was not aware they needed permission to carry out inspections.

Matt Carthy seemes to think they do, crazy...

StackSteevens

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

I would also encourage people to send in FOI requests to ascertain what is total amount of financial donations made by Larry Goodman, family members/ business associates of ABP Food Group to the main political parties to date, with a detailed breakdown.

That information is already published annually by SIPO. So there's absolutely no need to (ab)use the FoI process - which doesn't cover the Irish political parties or individual Oireachtas members in any case!

Ten of Swords

Threads merged

Jimi H

touts wrote: »

Ireland is really only self sufficient in Beef. Most of the pork and chicken we eat comes from Eastern Europe frozen in bulk and gets processed here. We do produce pork and chicken but not nearly enough.

Says here that 297,000 pigs were slaughtered in June alone. I’m sure I read that we kill over 100 million animals in Ireland per year. https://statbank.cso.ie/multiquicktables/quickTables.aspx?id=adm01