news, local-news

THE owner of Horsham Abattoirs Victoria said he could no longer operate from Horsham abattoir because of a problem with the chillers. Owner Greg Bushy said 80 per cent of the reason he had stopped leasing Horsham abattoir from Dominic Van Dyk was because Mr Van Dyk could not afford to have the chillers fixed. He said without the chillers being fixed he would have been operating outside meat authority guidelines. Mr Bushby said that towards the end of December he received feedback from his customers that his products were not at the right requirements. He said another reason that he stopped leasing Horsham abattoir was because his workers had a 58 per cent rate of non-attendance. "They just came and went whenever they wanted," he said. Between 30 and 35 casually employed Horsham abattoir workers lost their job over Christmas when the Horsham meatworks doors shut to large-scale business. Mr Bushby said he felt bad for workers who had lost their jobs. He said it was difficult calling Horsham abattoir workers to tell them there was no more work. Mr Bushby said he gave workers an adequate amount of time to know about the closure. Mr Bushby called employees on December 31 to let them know the abattoir would not be opening on January 2. "I felt bad for the workers," he said. "I've known a lot of these people for 20 years. I work with them. "Realistically the abattoir should have been closed two and a half years ago. "We've kept people in jobs for two and a half years." Mr Bushby also works for B and M Wholesalers. Mr Bushby said B and M Wholesalers had nothing to do with the ceased abattoir operation. "B and M Wholesalers had nothing to do with the set-up whatsoever, apart from processing stock there," he said. "Horsham Abattoirs Victoria was running the abattoir." Mr Bushby said workers were employed by an employment agency, not B and M Wholesalers. "At no time did B and M wholesalers employ anybody," he said. "They didn't lease the abattoir. They were just processing stock at the abattoir. It was a service." Employees who worked for Mr Van Dyk's meat processing company Daronby Pty Ltd, which went bankrupt in May last year, are waiting on superannuation payments. Mr Bushby said he had been employed by Mr Van Dyk and he had lost superannuation payments. He said he thought he would receive the payments from Mr Van Dyk. "You've got to give credit for it, he's owning up to it."