This push by the Union to try to work with the employers and other meat industry stakeholders to enhance the industry and the industry perception at the school level had almost stalled at one point.

This of course was disheartening news after the Union has spent over 2 years to get the project off the ground, however the new board of the Agriskills Food Training council has marked this as a priority project, thus breathing new life into it.

Funding has now been secured (the cause of stalling in the past) and we are again moving in the right direction.

Some of the problems that we have faced along the way are very frustrating.  For example in the retail area we have two stakeholders with two very different agendas.

The independent shops want fully trained tradesperson butchers to value add and offer the highest service to customers.

In the processing areas the employers generally are too hard (with some exceptions) and have cast a dark shadow over the part of the industry, making it difficult to retain labour.

There are many opportunities for the industry if we can get some cooperation from the key players.  The project is now backed by the new skills council and the Meat Industry Development Board.