IT’S A KNIFE IN THE GUTS
Staff drought threatens meat icon’s future and local food on your plate
A SIX-DECADE Far North meat dynasty is under threat and consumers are in line for product shortages and higher prices.
Byrnes Meats patriarch Darcy Byrnes (right) says a lack of interest in jobs at their Tolga abattoir was bringing the business to its knees.
He, like some hospitality bosses, have blamed the issue on government packages like JobKeeper.
A FAR Northern meat empire could be brought to its knees thanks to a lack of interest in jobs at its Tolga abattoir – and consumers could be left with product shortages and higher prices.
Byrnes Meats has been a fixture in meat production since 1960 and has established itself as a supply line for restaurateurs and families wanting to support Tableland-bred cattle and poultry.
But patriarch Darcy Byrnes fears all of that is at risk now and has blamed the Federal Government’s JobKeeper and JobSeeker programs.
“We need about 30 staff at the abattoir and today 10 to 12 turned up to work,” Mr Byrnes said on Thursday. “It is serious, we are understaffed as buggery. They just don’t turn up.”
He said prior to the COVID-19 lockdown his operations were nearly fully staffed.
“Now nobody is out there looking for work because they are already getting paid,” he said.
Mr Byrnes spoke out after the hospitality industry recorded similar trends in their labour pool.
Port Douglas restaurant On the Inlet temporarily closed last weekend when some staff “pulled the pin” at short notice, robbing the business of its crucial weekend trade.
Owner Geoff Parmenter said he believed a false sense of security provided by the government payments was partly to blame.
Mr Byrnes said the situation was so dire the company could not kill cattle to supply the wholesale meat business.
“We just can’t get staff. We need skilled labour and experienced slaughtermen. We will train people,” Mr Byrnes said.
“My son runs the abattoir and said they are in desperate trouble.”
If the trends continue, customers will pay higher prices and Tableland cattle breeders will be left with one less major local buyer.
“We will have to buy meat from down south,” Mr Byrnes said. “There are no shortages yet, but it will happen.”
Recruitment agent Ed Karras said a reluctance to work or to jeopardise income support had been increasingly noticed in the hospitality sector.
“It is happening ... people are starting to go and get doctors’ certificates, saying they are unable to work,” Mr Karras said. “But some are working for other employers and still claiming JobKeeper.
“We are finding it hard, competing with those on JobSeeker, who are far better off and don’t want to take hours that would take away their entitlement.”
But economist Peter Faulkner disputed the notion that the income support was creating a population of bludgers living large on the public purse.
“I think there is an element of drawing conclusions from a limited number of examples,” he said. “Beneath the surface the reality is that there are far fewer jobs available. There are very few jobs going begging.
“You should ask what are the types of jobs being offered? Are they permanent or casual. If you have an employer looking at putting someone on a very casual basis doing uncertain work, would you want to take that up?”
He said by September, “zombie” businesses would start to drop off and a clearer economic picture would emerge. “JobKeeper is distorting the market. We are looking at a different labour market than we had in March,” he said.