GMB Union identifies unsustainable working practices and low wages as the real cause of supply chain crisis in the meat industry that is strangling the economy.
Eamon O’Hearn, GMB National Officer, said:
“GMB has news for the meat supply chain.
“There is no future for two twelve hours shifts in the abattoirs where workers are on their feet for the duration.
“We put an end to twelve hour shifts once before in the gas industry.
“The employers and the farmers need to recognise the need to radically reorganise work practices and pay to ensure capacity for a steady and secure meat supply chain.
“Warning about shortages of ‘pigs in blankets’ for Christmas and seeking changes to the migration system is ignoring the basic problem.
“Work practices in the abattoirs are utterly unsustainable and require radical changes.
“We need to end the low-wage, low-margin business model that allows retailers to strangle our supply chain.
“Years and years of cost pressures on the supply chain from the big retailers and others is now coming home to roost.
"It’s time the meat industry joined with GMB to take a stand against the retailers to ensure a UK supply chain has fair wages and decent working conditions.”
