Fire may be better for beef plant in long run

The fire in Silver Fern Farms’ Te Aroha beef plant is devastating for the workers who may not have any work for the rest of the season.

If the plant specialised in sheep it probably would be abandoned because there is for more killing space than the meat industry needs.

But because it is a beef plant the company is much more likely to rebuild and if it does it will end up with a better plant which ought to give workers more job security in the long run.

A fire at Alliance’s Pukeuri works in North Otago was difficult for staff who lost work in the short term. But the plant was rebuilt to modern standards which makes it much less likely it will be near the top of the list if the company needs to reduce killing capacity.