It is now clear someone will be punished for the bird flu debacle at Bernard Matthews turkey farm in the UK. Several hundred factory workers:
Around 130 workers at a Bernard Matthews site face being laid off in the wake of the bird flu outbreak, a union has reported.
The employees at Great Witchingham, near Norwich, will be stood down for 20 days from Tuesday, according to the Transport and General Workers' Union.
The firm is preparing to lay off a total of 500 workers, the TGWU claimed.
Environment Secretary David Miliband is expected to make a Commons statement on bird flu later this afternoon.
A spokesman for the TGWU told the BBC that the staff were being laid off and not made redundant.
He added that the crucial thing was for the company to win back the trust of consumers. (BBC)
BBC and other sources report company sales are down 40%. The union wants government assistance for the industry, to include compensation for laid-off workers. I'm not against this, but why should the burden be placed solely on workers and taxpayers? There is another way, as we noted here in December:
When H5N1 hit Thailand, its sixth largest poultry producer, Sun Group was in trouble. Twenty-five countries in the EU, almost its sole market, put a ban on fresh chicken imports from Thailand, leaving it without customers and a lot of workers to be paid. What Sun's six subsidiaries did then is quite remarkable.Instead of cutting the staff numbers to reduce costs - as many giant firms did when faced with the crisis - Sun Group decided to keep them all. And the strategy has paid off by boosting their loyalty.
"At that time we thought we had to survive. So high-ranking executives to low-level staff talked about it together to find a solution," says Taweesak.
The first move was to transfer hundreds of blue-collar staff to work in one canned-food facility in Kanchanaburi province where it had good connections. Fortunately, the canner was in need of additional employees to enhance its production line.
It also joined forces with the giant consumer-product firm Sahaphat Group, with which it also had good ties, to allow some employees to be temporary salesmen of Sahaphat products. (The Nation [Thailand])
The workers' brains and experience weren't idle, either.
"We found that staff had many good ideas, but our old working style didn't give them an opportunity to share them," admits Somkiert.
As a result, the company began to promote a new working atmosphere by encouraging staff to share ideas and communicate more with their supervisors, he says.
In addition, it created a welfare system for employees. One example is the creation of facilities for workers, such as a nursery in one of its plants.
Somkiert says offering welfare to the staff does not add to costs, as he knows how to manage the budget efficiently.
So how about it, Bernard Matthews? You are the EU's largest turkey producer, with 57 farms and a production of 8,000,00 birds a year. You can't find temporary slots for your workers? Your workers no doubt have good ideas how to prevent a screw up like this in the future. After all, they see it happen everyday and know some of the reasons it happens.
I'm not holding my breath, though. The problem is not just a "one-off" biosecurity problem. This company has a sorry record on many fronts, so it is unlikely it will act like its Thai counterpart. Consider this (from Wikipedia):
On 7 September 2006 two Bernard Matthews employees were convicted of animal cruelty after being filmed playing 'baseball' with live turkeys. A vet who viewed the tape described the abuse as hideous, the worst he had seen in his 25-year career. One man was seen hurling a turkey while the other used a pole made for rounding up turkeys as a bat to hit it with." [link]
Their defence lawyer stated that their actions were part of a 'culture' at the Norfolk plant. The two men were each sentenced to 200 hours of community service. The sentences were later criticised as being 'derisory' by some animal welfare organisations.[link]
In response the company took out full page advertisements in The Eastern Daily Press] to condemn the actions of their employees and cruelty to turkeys, in general. If you believe the company's concern for turkey welfare, you need to get in touch with your neurologist immediately and demand a brain CAT scan.
That aside, the advert didn't say anything about cruelty to workers. Probably not an oversight.
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The US has a bailout plan under the USDA for our poultry when it finally hits us. Of course once its endemic here we are going to have to make decisions about the fat fluffy factory farmed birds and whether we want to take a chance. Tyson, Pilgrims Pride etc. all have had a shot across their bow. We as a nation will not be able to bailout all of the businesses that are going to tank from a bird flu pandemic. Should be able to weather say a bird flu in only birds for one or two hits, but pumping them up because we need chicken tenders is not a very good idea.
A few years ago it looked like BSF was going to to do our beef market. It would have put about 1 million direct workers off. What do we do when BF pops in unnannounced and puts everone at the airlines, fast food, theaters, markets, stock exchanges and even the churches out of business for four to six months? There aint that many bailouts out there.
Randolph The problem is that when the pandemic starts, we become the vectors infecting our dogs, cats, birds...rats and mice and bats...and domestic animals including poultry, pigs and cattle.
This has a couple of effets. The reverberations back and forth, across species barriers, could greatly increase the amplitude of the wave (not three waves)...
...and secondly, we could have a destruction of significant reserves of what will inevitably become a shortage of food.
The possbilities are not encouraging at the moment.
Tom-Webster spoke at the Alzheimers foundation meeting last night and echoed in loud terms what you just wrote. Basically put and as I understand it he fully believes we are past the 50/50 point on this stuff breaking hard into humans. High Path H5N1? He isnt sure. High Path influenza that either grabs part of another flu and gets us, or H5N1 that grabs a part of a seasonal nasty flu and then it gets us. But his bent was that in his opinion we are getting very close now.
No media please was the sign in the front. They tried but didnt get the interviews but the meeting was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop if you were a media guy in the lobby. That pin could have also been dropped in the mouths of the people whose jaws were down on the ground too. I almost didnt say it but I had to. "Doctor Webster in light of current events, just how long would you prepare for this in supplies for pandemic survival? "
"As much as you can afford and properly store. It serves no purpose for you to be sitting on a years worth of food as it will degradate. ", he said. I said, "Can you be more specific?" Dr. Webster paused for a moment and said, "I would go for several months worth. If you dont use it, someone else will need it."
Here endeth the first verse........
I think this is starting to weigh into the minds of everyone as to what will happen. Its moved from a big maybe, to maybe, to possible, to probable, now very likely. I guess we can only hope that its mild as they say. If not, we are screwed and screwed big. I still get chills thinking if it went even 10%. Another question was posed for Webster and it was on the mortality... Glad I didnt have to ask that one. He piped up and said that its running between 67% overall to about 84% lately. Thats when the gasp came from the back of the room. Chicks have more guts of asking these questions than men. They just are unable to accept the answers. He also echoed the graphics that it has a predisposition for the young.
There were some specially invited print media types, the locals for all intents and purposes. Webster was chastised a bit 18 months ago for ponying up the truth about what it could do and some said he could start a panic.... GOOD! Panicked people would go out, buy a lot of stuff and then be sitting on it when it comes. Better than to be sitting in a line on a food ration card system with the guys in front and back of you honking up a storm. But we couldnt have that now could we? Prepared people?
Kind of like Katrina, told to get out they sat around and said they didnt have a way. Okay, I guess they are going to wait for the government to provide it for them again. 1959 famine in China caused Chairman Mao to send an urgent message to Kruschev, "Send food, starvation imminent." Kruschev replied, "Tighten up your belts." Chairman Mao paused for a bit and sent his reply, "Send belts."
I think thats where we are on this and everyone is looking for Uncle Sugar to bail them out. He who is president at the time that this comes is going to need those body guards really bad.
Randolph Thanks.
I would hope a President would never be held responsible for a UN agency failure.
When the time comes, we must give 'credit' where credit is due.
MRK - I don't believe Webster has said anything he hasn't said before, or anything I don't believe to be possible, or true.
However, it would appear to me, that suggesting he believes we are past the 50/50 point seems a bit presumptious. I doubt he said anything like that, publicly. If so, I would guess that would certainly be news worthy.
First you post there was a "no media" sign on the door and then say "There were some specially invited print media types". Which was it?
Patch-this was a 9600 square foot facility that houses an Alzheimers day care so you can imagine it was crowded. The local coordinators of EMA, state electeds, one federal I think I saw, and a who is who in the local arena. Webster as a rule doesnt give interviews and it was a invitation only affair. The local town media was allowed to participate but none of the Memphis papers or news teams. It lasted for two hours and it was first a presentation, then about a 20 minute Q and A.
If you want when then Friday local town rag comes out I'll post it up to you if you want-need an email address for the scan. I have no idea what they will write but it promises to be interesting. I imagine he did it out here because he lives close by.
I wonder how much, if anything, will make its way to the press.
V. probably a lot of the usual fluff but there will likely be the IHO bout it coming. Some station up in Indiana posted on their web site today that it IS coming....... Hmmmmm. Maybe Indiana will be prepared if it does.
http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=6115234
MRK - Thank you for the timely heart starter. To tell you the truth one minute I am @##$#@ scared of what is to come, and in the next minute I'm really excited. They say adrenaline can save your life, one only hopes that it is true.
If H5N1 retains it virulence and breaks - the shit will hit the fan. I can just see the panic buying, murders, civil disobedience, food shortages, medicine shortages etc etc. MRK I hope that we are wrong.
"It serves no purpose for you to be sitting on a years worth of food as it will degradate."
(Not true of many kinds of foods.)
MRK "said, "Can you be more specific?" Dr. Webster paused for a moment and said, "I would go for several months worth. If you dont use it, someone else will need it."
(Because, you weren't careful enough with your infection avoidance?)
No one is going to want to be seen as the place in the neighborhood that has a few hours of food for a mob...
But, municpalities better start letting their public know what's up and change priorities and stock up.
We're so screwed right now.
So maybe the answer to stockpiling with security is a hidden root cellar - just don't let any of the neighbors catch you going after your secret stash. I have always planned on keeping only a small amount of supplies in my kitchen pantry with the bulk of my supplies hidden safely away. If someone does get in (past me that is), let them take what's in the pantry. Might just be enough to save my life.
MRK - Was the content of the meeting entirely Pandemic related? I just have a hard time believing he stated he was over the 50/50 point in confidence. I don't recall him offering probabilities in the past and nothing approaching 50/50. But I certainly could have missed something. The threat continues to exist, but I haven't seen any indication things have changed recently.
I'm curious, how you got your invitation? Because of your NIMS status?
Pretty much Patch. I dont know how the list was tooled up and there were a lot of State and Federal types in the room. But there were two of the local mayors frominside the county, some state elected types, and a contingent of EMA's, county public works and a lot of people that I would say were prominent in business and government that I know by sight but not name in a lot of instances.
To put the 50/50 into context it was in reference to the question put above and his comment was that he thought it was more than that, but not by the above percentages of 60+ but less than 85. But his comment was that he thought there was more than a 50/50 chance.
So like you it only gave rise to another question but no one asked things like do you thing it will be High Path, do you think it would have a CFR of more than X%. Time was short in the Q& A and I only got to ask the one question.
Here is his interview from March of last year with ABC
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/AvianFlu/story?id=1724801
I will scan the article out of the local rag tommorow or Friday when it comes in the mail and post it verbatim. I dont know whether the locals got a direct interview or not when it was over or before the meeting started as I was a little late.
Will advise.
Patch. I believe Dr. Webster made the 50/50 comment in Jan. 2006...at the same time he first publically mentioned the possibility that H5N1 could go pandemic with a high CFR...and also stated that he had several months of food preps.
Patch, you know I read that article three times and put it into the meaning of what I think he was trying to get across the other night. He may not ascribe to the 50% of the world going thought any longer. But I do think he believes its more than a 50% chance now of it coming. Least thats the way I read it. In light of current events that might not be too far off the mark.
Patch and all. Revere has the local rag from Websters speech the other night. Its in a jpg format because the OCR does interpret it okay but it sucks in everything else. Its two pages.
If anyone wants to read it then let me know. He definitively says 3 months in there, and there are some other tidbits but no direct interviews. Nice picture of the guy too. Some of the stuff you may already know, but the other and more important stuff he covers is the JIT network and things like water purification and that we will run out of ....EVERYTHING!
Okay if you want it then zip me an email address. I dont spam it even if its a known liberal. Advise me whether to delete your email in the request once its sent. I am big on privacy.
memphisservices@bellsouth.net
Revere may want to somehow figure out how to cut it and put it up as part of the blogosphere but until then you can hit me at the above email.
Bests to all.