Hopes for agreement on works mechanisation

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 14

Hopes for agreement on works mechanisation

It should not be impossible for the freezing companies and the Meat Workers’ and Related Trades’ Union to reach agreement on the introduction of mechanisation to the slaughter and dressing of stock in freezing works.

The introduction of a machine to do part of the removal of pelts from sheep and lambs will be the first stage in the mechanisation of dressing, one of the main aims of which is to reduce, or at least hold costs, so that the meat industry can maintain its competitive position on world markets. For these reasons the introduction of the system makes good sense to employers in the industry and farmers, who stand to benefit from increased efficiency and savings in processing. On the other han I, the concern of workers and their union about the possibilities of displacement and loss of jobs is readily understandable, when the spectre of unemployment is looming ever larger. But employers are Concerned that the changes in the industry are made with the least inconvenience and upset, and in fact they say that the consequences could be minimal.

The focus at present is on the mechanical peitmg machine, which it is said could result in manning levels on works chains begin reduced by about 15 or more workers on each chain. But this may not be so serious as it at first seems.

So that the machine can be introduced with the least possible adverse effect on the work force, the New Zealand Freezing Companies' Association has asked the unions to set up a consultative mechanism to ensure full union/employer involvement and consultation on matters of labour displacement, including identification of new work opportunities within the meat industry.

At this stage it is envisaged that the machine will be introduced gradually, which will allow both companies and unions to plan and reduce any

harmful effects on the work force. It is. believed that this can be done with minimal redundancy through instigating policies of job retraining and redeployment, while the natural loss of members of the work force by retirement etc., will progressively reduce the labour force in any case over the phasing-in period; All in all the effects could be slight.

While the meat workers’ union currently has a black ban on the introduction of mechanisation pending a satisfactory agreement being reached on the subject the general secretary, Mr A. J. Kennedy, said this week that the union’s policy was actually to facilitate the introduction of mechanisation but subject to there being no displacement of workers or loss of the present number of jobs. Subject to this tag the union is prepared to go along with mechanisation and for companies to reap the benefits of increased profitability, which Mr Kennedy believes must certainly be envisaged in the longer term. But he stresses that the union has a prior concern for people and its members or workers. They, he says, have helped the companies to enjoy profitability that has enabled, them to entertain malting these -ostly innovations.

And for that reason and their concern for people the union sees no reason why any workers should be thrown on the scrap heap, and if necessary workers should be retrained and redeployed by the. companies. Mr Kennedy says that this may not necessarily be in the works themselves, but in other industries established by companies even if they only break oven for a time for that could be offset by the increased profitability of their freezing works as a consequence of mechanisation.

He cites Waitaki NZ Refrigerating, Ltd, as a company that has diversified outside the meat industry. Naturally Mr Kennedy sees further processing, including cutting of caresses in works, with its savings in ultimate freight costs, as providing scope for more employment, and when it was t.ggested to him that arguments were regularly raised against this on the score that cists here were higher than oversc-u, he said he believed that it could be done if there was sufficient determination to do it.

Mr Kennedy says that the union has meetings with general managers of companies and that these would continue and as companies were now aware of the union policy on mechanisation there were bound to be talks on this subject. He believes that agreement is possib’i between the partnes for their mutual benefit. The alternative was inconceivable. The employers had stated that there would be bound to be “a bloodbath.” And if the unions were forced into a corner, he said they would fight. Work on mechanical dressing has been in progress for a number of years. Sor.ie of the earliest work was done at Canterbury Frozen Meat Company’s Fairton works and later th' activity was transferred to Belfast where at reduced speed “in chain” trials were held.

According to C.F.M. slaughter production supervisor, Mr W. Williams, his company has possibly had a bigger involvement ir it than any

other company in the industry, but 1 sees it as being very much a joint project and one involving a pooling of resources. Now the project, which is under the management of the New Zealand Freezing Companies’ Association, has been moved to the Meat Industry Research Institute at Hamilton. In the latest annual report of the institute, the director, Or C. L. Davey, says that perhaps the most significant step in the growing relationship between the industry and the institute was moving the mechanical dressing project to the institute. “This project is managed bv the industry and calls on its national resources as well as research agencies to achieve the far-reaching solutions that a modern meat processing industry requires.” While it was a very different thing introducing such a machine to a production line to using it in a laboratory situation, Mr Williams said that in the long term, with the appropriate goodwill, he believed that it was something that co ’.ld be made to work.

The assistant general manager of Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating, Ltd, Mr J. M.. Ryan, said that mechanisation of sheep and lamb dressing had now been researched, and developed to the point where they were confident that its ultimate nplication in slaughtering plants was inevitable. According to the New Zealand Freezing Companies’ Association the pelting machine is very close to being a success.

And here are some of the advantages that are exoected to flow from its introduction.

By removing the pelt without manual contact with the carcase, it would

be possible to reduce m i c r o-biological contamination from a normal .10,000 counts per square centimetre to 100 counts per square centimetre. It was possible that the final system would provide improvements in hygiene without the need which existed at present to wash animals or carcases.

This would save waten reduce trade waste problems and lead to a better carcase appearance. Mechanical pelting would improve the quality of the carcase. With current manual techniques of dressing between 3 and 8 per cent of carcases were damaged. With • the mechanical developments

it should be possible to reduce this to between a half per cent and 4 per cent. Pelt quality would also improve. At present as many as 30 per cent of pelts could be damaged by cuts or. strain. The new system should enable this to be reduced below 10 per cent. A considerable improvement in productivity should also result. It is also believed that a considerable export potential could exist for the system in Australia in the first place, and later in North America, Europe and South America.

It may also be possible to extend the same approach to beef.

And in the process of its development more knowledge has been gained — for instance, of the '‘fell”, which is the membrane . between the pelt and meat tissue. This is an extremely sensitive area and subject to changes in texture as a result of temperature and humidity variance. The scientists involved in the research now have a far better understanding of why certain parts of the skin are always tough to remove.

The annual report of the Meat Research Institute says that both the force needed to remove the pelt and the appearance of the carcase after dressing can be altered by changing the pre-slaughter environment of the animal. A detailed procedure for objectively assessing the quality of lamb dressing has been developed by a joint team from the industry and the institute. This is to Drovide a means of comparing the performance of the mechanical dressing machine with that of the manual system.

While the maior effort at the moment is on completion of development of the mechanical pelting machine, work is also being done on automatic stunning, and the total project envisages mechanisation of shackling, trotter removal, head removal and evisceration. “The early involvement of the meat workers’ unions with the Freezing Companies’ Association in considering jointly all of the implications of mechanical dressing would enable a planned introduction of the various components of the system as they develop over a period of three to five years, and this would assist substantially in avoiding stress or inconvenience,” says Mr Ryan.