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Some 80% of workers in meat factories are not covered by a sick pay scheme.
The figure emerged during the Oireachtas special committee on COVID-19 response on 13 August, when committee chair Independent TD Michael McNamara pressed senior director of MII Cormac Healy for an answer on the matter.
Working conditions in meat factories have been under intense scrutiny following the local lockdown of Kildare, Laois and Offaly, caused in part by outbreaks in four meat plants - Kildare Chilling, O'Briens Fine Foods, Carroll Cuisine and Irish Dog Foods.
The continued closure of Kildare Chilling has had an immediate impact on farmers and with the factory understood to be waiting on more test results, a reopening date has not been confirmed.
Clusters don’t start in meat factories
There has been widespread concern that a lack of sick pay has been a factor in the spread of the virus in plants, with suggestions that workers on minimum wage are unlikely to admit to feeling ill if sick pay is not available.
Representatives of MII defended the industry and pointed to the fact that just one of the four plants where outbreaks occurred is an animal slaughter plant represented by the body.
Cormac Healy said that since the committee had first met to discuss virus outbreaks in factories, there had been no outbreaks and only five individual cases.
Blame
He acknowledged the one recent outbreak in Kildare Chilling, but said it was not fair to lay all the blame at the door of MII.
This message was repeated by MII chair Philip Carroll, who said that “clusters don’t start in meat factories”.
“COVID-19 is introduced into meat plants, but because they are a place where a lot of people work, there is an inevitability about it,” Carroll said.
He acknowledged that previous to the outbreak in Kildare Chilling, where 150 employees have tested positive, that there were six “significant” clusters in April and May.
He pointed out that of 40 factories MII represented, 36 of those had very few cases of the virus.
However, there were a number of concerns voiced by union officials in regard to workers conditions.
MII said that the quick return of test results was also a concern
“We are convinced that the reason why Ireland has witnessed so many worrying outbreaks in meat plants in the past month is due to the worker substandard employment and living conditions, which are the result of the industry's long-term disregard for the wellbeing of its staff,” Nora Labo of the Independent Workers’ Union told the committee.
The issue of testing was also highlighted as a concern, with SIPTU's Greg Ennis saying that some workers in Kildare Chilling had been waiting up to five days for their test results.
MII said that the quick return of test results was also a concern for it and has said that while it fully supports the forthcoming Government testing programme of workers, that results will have to be turned around quickly to ensure outbreaks do not occur.
Health and Safety Authority
Health and Safety Authority (HSA) CEO Sharon McGuinness also came under fire following previous revelations that the majority of inspections at meat plants had been pre-announced.
TDs and the Migrants Rights Council of Ireland have previously said that this is not conducive to a robust inspection process.
However, McGuinness said that, in the first instance, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and not the HSA was the lead on COVID-19 outbreaks in meat plants.
It emerged during the hearing that outbreaks of the virus were technically not listed as “notifiable” to the HSA and there were calls for this to be reviewed.
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