Eric Mischefski: No outcry from union over cattle exports

Dairy cows were shipped to China in February, on the Awassi Express, pictured at Napier Port. PHOTO/FILE

To the texter in July 26 edition of Hawke's Bay Today who asked: "What is the meat union doing about the export of live cattle to China?".

The reality is live export of bovine animals is legal and has been for some time. There are a whole bunch of reasons why there has not been a cry of indignation from the union against this trafficking of live cattle.

Our role as a trade union in the industry is to represent the interests of our members and while the exporting of their jobs is of concern, there are other priorities we must focus on like securing good terms and conditions of employment, advocating on behalf of workers who are poorly treated in the workplace, but also because some of our members are very transient.

Many workers experience a short period of work each year which necessitates they either find alternative low-paid jobs or move to other localities to find other meat industry jobs.

This can lead to a family break-up where both partners may look after some of their children or one partner stays behind with the children while the other travels to find more work.

During this period when many workers get laid off they have little choice but to rely on Winz.

Meat industry work is cyclic. If the grass is growing, farmers withhold their stock until prices suit them. When in time of drought the reverse applies.

There are many workers in the industry who work antisocial hours and in periods of uncertainty about whether they have work tomorrow or not.

The work is filthy, often dangerous and results in hundreds of workers per year being injured or suffering from diseases contracted from the animals they process.

I understand that in these circumstances it is often difficult to get cover from ACC because there are many forces at play trying to deny such injuries are work related.

There are people in our society who take the view that these cattle, which have been exported will no longer continue to contribute to the pollution reaching our rivers (often cattle for live export are held in feed lots and undergo a period of conditioning to eat processed foods which they rely on during the sea voyage) which, unfortunately is where some of the feedlots are situated.

Perhaps we should take time to understand what the life of a cow is like. At birth, they are separated from their mothers and are force-fed powdered milk or they are killed.

If they survive this and are male animals they can expect a very short life span due to them being raised for their meat. If female, they will be forced into a continuous cycle of breeding.

I believe that if cows could talk they may say the prospect of an ocean cruise and migrating to another climate may be a better option to the life they experience in NZ.

Eric Mischefski is the Organiser for the Aotearoa branch, Onekawa of the New Zealand Meat Union. Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz.