Govt certain buyer can be

found for Young abattoir

THE State Government says it is confident a buyer can be found for the Young abattoir.

Burrangong Meat Processors called in receivers on Tuesday, rendering 310 workers suddenly jobless.

Regional Development Minister, Ian Macdonald, this morning (Thursday) conferred with the abattoir owner, Grant Edmonds, to discuss options available to the company and its staff, regional radio reports.

Nationals’ State MP for Burrinjuck, Katrina Hodgkinson, says she has asked the Minister to explore all avenues to keep the business operating.

Ms Hodgkinson says she is worried not all entitlements are covered, including superannuation.

“So we’ll keep working towards some resolution to that; obviously if entitlements don’t come forward that is an extremely unsatisfactory situation.”

Mr Macdonald says while the abattoir should be an attractive asset to any potential buyer, the main priority at the moment is the welfare of its staff.

“I believe that it will be sold in the not too distant future,” he says.

“However, the interests of the workforce are very important to us at this moment, so we’ve put a taskforce in there to assist them through this period.”

Federal Liberal MP for Hume and

But he says the Federal Government’s General Employees’ Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS), set up after the Cowra abattoir collapse, is comprehensive, including intensive job-search help.

“It’s up to three months’ unpaid wages for the period prior to the appointment of the insolvency practitioner, unpaid annual leave, unpaid long-service leave, up to a maximum of five weeks’ unpaid payment in lieu of notice and up to a maximum of 16 weeks unpaid redundancy entitlements,” he told regional radio.

“It’s up to the superannuation fund as to what entitlements they can get.”

Mr Schultz says finding a buyer for Young abattoir will not be easy.

“Some meatworks have significantly downsized their staff because we’ve been through a very difficult drought, things have become unviable for many of them, so it’s a combination of many, many things and I don’t think there’s too many people interested in buying abattoirs at the moment.

“Hopefully that’s not the case,” he says.

Fletcher International abattoir at Dubbo recently shed 300 casual jobs after protracted negotiations with the Australasian Meat Industry Employees’ Union.