New beginning Halal

Follow @muslimslaughter

SOUTHERN Meats abattoir will restart operations today with about half its former workforce. But new owners, the Western Australian Meat Marketing Cooperative (WAMMCO) have their eyes firmly set on boosting stock and employee numbers.
The facility will reopen under the Southern Meats name. Chief executive Coll MacRury said the south Goulburn plant would re-start at 60 to 70 per cent capacity and build to full production. Eventually, if sheep and lamb numbers permit, Southern Meats wants to double capacity, employing 400 people just like in its heyday.
“Everyone who hasn’t found employment since the shutdown will be coming back on Monday,” Mr MacRury said.
“That’s just over 100 people. We’ve probably got that amount of work to start off because stock numbers are not flowing readily yet.”
The abattoir shut down temporarily in March, with management citing low sheep and lamb numbers and the high Australian dollar as reasons. Some 180 workers were left in limbo.
The re-start was delayed twice before owner manager Neville Newton announced in June the sale of land, buildings and the business to WAMMCO. He revealed negotiations had been underway for three months.
Since that time the Cooperative has been sourcing stock from saleyards and direct from the paddock. Mr MacRury said the latter was far more efficient and a principle the company employed in the west.
Over the past month he’s been immersed in accountancy and legal work with the business’s sale. But continuity will be assured through former employees and Mr Newton’s sons, Scott and Craig, who will operate the plant under WAMMCO’s direction.
“We’ll work away and build stock and staff numbers. We will only double capacity if the stock is there,” Mr MacRury said. But that could be up to a year away, depending on what the season threw up. In the meantime, the West Australian operation will prop up Goulburn on the back of what Mr MacRury describes as a “very strong year.”
He’s also canvassing additional export markets with a greater focus on lamb. The plant previously concentrated more on mutton. Southern Meats will continue supplying the halal meat industry, which calls for ritualistic animal slaughter.