



FURTHER AUTHOR CREDIT AND UPDATE





I have to apologise to Paul Zanetti who reworked Stan Kipper's story with him yesterday and posted the story from which I've published the extract below.

I only credited Stan Kipper as the author - I now know of Paul's involvement in the writing and you might like to go and pay his website a visit here

UPDATE - thanks to Kirralie Smith and Senator Corey Bernardi for jumping onto this quicksmart this morning.

UPDATE - were there no Australian slaughtermen available in March this year? Why did the Kilcoy Pastoral Company go to the Philippines for these 8 men?





ENDS

This is Mitchell Rock with his wife and two small boys.

Mitchell works in the Kilcoy Pastoral Company's abattoir. He says only 4 out of 100 slaughtermen there are Australians - with the remainder 457 Visa holders imported from The Philippines, edging out willing and able Australian workers.

"I was working on the slaughter floor one afternoon when I was introduced to a new employee. It was his first day on the job and I was asked to train him.



"I was very confused as to why a new employee would jump straight into this very high skilled job. I asked the employee where he was from.



"He replied, "I am a 457 worker from the Philippines.”



"Ok I said, have you done this kind of work before?”



"He replied, “No, I have never been in a meat working facility like this before.”



"I asked, “Can you steel (sharpen) your knife?” He said, “No,” and asked me to show him.



"So I put a complaint into my supervisor."

Mitchell says that after that episode he was demoted, dropping two pegs on the pay scale with worse potentially to come at a meeting scheduled for 11AM today.

He says the company has a preference for foreign workers. To prove his point, Mitchell's just posted this video to his Facebook page - showing a Philippines recruitment company welcoming the Kilcoy Pastoral Company's representative for a presentation to potential 457 applicants.

Mitchell has posted a lengthy article written by Stan Kipper to his Facebook page - you can read it in full here, here's an extract:

Mitchell gained employment at the local business, Kilcoy Pastoral Company, which is Chinese-owned and operates a large Halal certified abattoir, specialising in slaughtering and processing grain fed beef, of which about 80% is exported. The remainder is sold on the Australian domestic market.



Mitchell started work at entry level over four and a half years ago.



Entry level, or level 1 as he described it, is basically for unskilled and untrained employers to get a start. He said any man or woman could learn the skills in a day or two without any problems.



Mitchell being the hard worker that he is, decided that he liked working in the industry so he progressed to level 2, a knife-hand position he describes as a fast-paced role requiring the person to have a great deal of concentration.



He explained to me that generally a person with no previous experience could efficiently perform these tasks after 2 weeks of intensive training.



Mitchell excelled at level 2 and being keen as mustard, hard working and forward thinking he talked to his wife about making a permanent career in the industry.



“I could see a better life ahead for my family”, Mitchell explained as I talked to him yesterday.



“I love my wife and my two boys, we all love living in Kilcoy, all I needed to do was progress to level 3 and get on some decent wages, you know get ahead, buy a house and settle down.”



Mitchell and his wife Sheree made the decision that Kilcoy was going to be their home so Mitchell went onto level 3 after another much older man retired.



Mitchell excelled as a slaughterman.



He told me the job required a lot of skill but it was satisfying.



“I absolutely loved it, and the extra money was so good too, we were able to get daily bonuses for production, I was earning over $1,200 a week.”



About five months later Mitchell’s world came crashing down.



"I was working on the slaughter floor one afternoon when I was introduced to a new employee. It was his first day on the job and I was asked to train him.



"I was very confused as to why a new employee would jump straight into this very high skilled job. I asked the employee where he was from.



"He replied, "I am a 457 worker from the Philippines.”



"Ok I said, have you done this kind of work before?”



"He replied, “No, I have never been in a meat working facility like this before.”



"I asked, “Can you steel (sharpen) your knife?” He said, “No,” and asked me to show him.



"So I put a complaint into my supervisor."



Mitchell has now been placed back at level 1, carrying out general duties with about 100 other Australians, most of whom are trained and skilled well beyond level 1.



Mitchell says there are only 4 Australian slaughtermen out of 100 working on the slaughter floor, and they are there only because they have been with the company for over ten years.



I asked Mitchell whether the 457 workers do a better job.



His reply was, “No, many of them are slower and their work is not done properly.”



Mitchell says the top paying jobs on the slaughter floor are all now reserved for a revolving door of unskilled 457 visa holders while all the skilled Australians battle to earn between $600 to $800 a week.



Mitchell explained, “Because they’re unskilled, sometimes we get asked to complete some of the work that they have trouble performing.



“I'm now back at the bottom of the pay scale with all the other Australians and we don't see any sign of progressing in the future.



"It basically means that we’re occupying all the entry level roles that could otherwise go to the unemployed Australians who desperately need work."



Mitchell went on to tell me that his wife Sheree now works nights at the BP service station to make ends meet.



“We have a loan on our house to take care of, and we try to put as much as we can away for the boys' education.”



Sheree became a little emotional as she said, “I want to be home with my family at night but we have made the decision that our love for each other is strong and we are going to survive. We have our two little boys and we are going to make it.”



The interview was the toughest I have ever done, and we have some questions for Malcolm Turnbull, Barnaby Joyce, Bill Shorten, Richard Di Natale, Pauline Hanson and Cory Bernardi.



Australians want to know when this ridiculous situation is going to stop.



Is there a politician in this country with enough guts and honour to stand up for Australians, and put them first?



Many hard working Australians are now being dictated to, and unfairly treated by, the bosses of Chinese communist government-owned businesses right here in Australia.



Why is this allowed to happen under a Liberal government?



Many Australians unfairly take second place to Islamic workers in many workplaces because of religious requirements placed upon businesses by unregulated Halal certification.



Mr Turnbull, how can you stand by and allow this to happen?



All this is happening right now in Australia.



We have a pompous, gutless Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Opposition Leader who couldn’t care less about the future of their fellow Australians.



457s reached record numbers, under the previous Labor government, signed off by then Workplace Relations Minister, Bill Shorten.



Why should we trust our political leaders in Australia?



Another disgraceful situation needs to be explained.



Under the Halal method of killing a beast at Kilcoy Pastoral Company, the animal is stunned to render the animal unconscious.



The beast then falls to the floor where its throat is cut.



I am told a small percentage of these animals regain consciousness while their throats are being cut. The beast’s eyes open and the animal panics, then thrashes to an excruciatingly painful death.



I am told that this is the only way Halal slaughtering can take place. The animal must be alive at the time its throat is cut to pass the strict guidelines of Halal certification.



Why is this sickening situation allowed to happen in Australia, Barnaby Joyce?



Where is Four Corners?



Well, we have a message for the three of you, bring on the next federal election, it is past time that the three of you felt the wrath of the Australian people.



You have failed us miserably.



You have sold us up as a country, and you have placed us second behind unskilled 457 visa holders.



UPDATE:



Mitchell started a new shift this morning, Sunday 7 May 2017.



He was escorted to the General Manager’s office where he was told a very serious talk needs to happen.



Mitchell declined to speak on the subject until a witness (and legal advice) could be arranged.



The meeting has now been rescheduled for 11:00 am Monday morning.



Mitchell has now organised for a witness to attend that meeting.



11:00 am tomorrow will be make-or-break time for Mitchell and his young family.



ENDS



I'll let you know how Mitchell gets on at the 11AM meeting. You can show your support for him at his Facebook page here.