A Northern Tasmanian abattoir has been forced to temporarily shed a quarter of its workforce as the state feels the effects of a nationwide livestock shortage.
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JBS Australia's Longford plant will stand down 112 of its 450 workers for a period of at least six weeks, with Centrelink expected to visit the site on Thursday to discuss income options for affected workers.
Australian Meat Industry Employees Union state secretary Troy Baker said workers had been “left in the dark” over the decision and could be forced to wait as long as four months before returning to their jobs.
“(JBS) have said to the media six weeks but they’ve said to me eight to 12 (weeks) - but with livestock there's no guarantees so there's nothing to say it couldn’t be up to 16 weeks,” Mr Baker said.
“Some of the (workers) don’t even know yet, they'll turn up tomorrow and find out it's their last week of work.”
Roberts state livestock manager Warren Johnston said Tasmania wasn’t alone in experiencing livestock shortages, with farmers across the nation forced to offload livestock early after an especially dry summer.
“There are abattoirs all across Australia that are winding back to two, three, or four days kill per week at present and unfortunately it's a cluster of droughts that have impacted right across the country,” he said.
“We all need to be mindful that we need a processing industry within Tasmania and we all need to support that.”
Northern Midlands mayor David Downie said the impact of the cuts would likely extend far beyond Longford.
“They're a large employer for the whole northern region so it's something we don't like to see,” Cr Downie said.
“People who work at the abattoirs travel from other areas so it’s wider than just Longford.”
