Meat industry needs
skilled foreign workers
Meat Info
Published: (22-07-2008)
Meat leaders are calling on the government to open the door
to foreign workers in the face of a chronic shortage of skilled staff.
Processors are reporting significant losses due to lack of
staff, with one large operator reporting a drop in production of 27%, equating
to a loss of £40,000 a week.
Stuart Roberts, director of the British Meat Processors
Association, has now written to the government migration authorities to
highlight the sector’s difficulties.
In the letter, he said: “Our members are encountering a
chronic shortage of skilled labour in their abattoirs
and boning facilities for slaughtermen, boners and
trimmers.” He said the loss of skilled staff – with employees from EU states
returning home – combined with the ongoing pressures on the sector in terms of
costs was putting intolerable strain on his members.
The letter added: “As they are unable to replace these
returning employees, from within the EU, a possible alternative has been sought
from outside the EU, and on behalf of our members can I encourage you to
acknowledge that there is a chronic shortage of skilled labour
in our members factories, and therefore look favourably
at any applications for permits for employees from outside the EU.”
He said other sectors had had their skill shortages recognised under the new sector-based scheme, and he urged
the government to take a similar view on the red meat sector.
meatinfo.co.uk