BUTCHERS and drovers yesterday cut off access to the Kofinou abattoir to protest against the management’s decision to lay off 28 employees and alter procedures.
The work stoppage began at 9am for two hours, with strikers refusing to allow anyone entry to the abattoir, to either transport animals for slaughter or to take meat.
“The central Kofinou abattoir has decided to make 28 people redundant,” farmer Andreas Zachariou said. “Following this development, the Abattoir’s management has prepared a new slaughter programme and new prices for the different slaughtered animals, which isn’t convenient, neither for the drovers, the butchers nor the distributors.”
He added that access would be prevented for a few hours, “because we don’t want the Abattoir to close down, but to operate as normal and serve our needs”.
But the slaughterhouse’s general manager, Georgios Gavriel, yesterday explained that the redundancies were made to make the abattoir viable.
He added that the work stoppage concerned “two or three sheep and goat drovers” and not the abattoir’s entire clientele. “It is not a move that reflects the views and positions of all drovers and butchers,” said Gavriel.
He added: “Today’s move is the expression of a mentality that isn’t unrelated to the dire situation at the abattoir; a mentality that wants to see the abattoir enslaved to the manner in which certain people want to work and be served, independent of whether this manner is financially beneficial to the organisation or not.”
Gavriel wondered why they were protesting efforts that would reduce the operational problems.
Asked to explain the reasons behind the decision to fire 28 people and alter prices, Gavriel said the abattoir was currently facing serious financial shortages and the move was made purely to help them remain viable.
The remaining workers, he added, should get organised in accordance with their collective agreements, “making full use of the 38 working hours we are given by the collective agreements”.
He said the abattoir’s effort was to find a way to use these 38 hours in the most constructive way, by preparing a new operational programme.
“The abattoir has two choices: either to continue current operations with operational shortages with an imminent sell-by date, or take decisions that will lead the organisation to prosperity,” he said. “The decision for 28 redundancies is related to the second category, because with this action, the abattoir’s operational shortages will end.”
Gavriel also wondered how come there were protestors present yesterday, who stopped being clients of the Kofinou abattoir four years ago. “What is their protest aimed at and what interests do they wish to serve with their presence here?”
