5% wage cut for veterinary inspectors in meat plants
A recent statement from the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer to staff said, “The minister will not proceed at this time with the planned deployment on a pilot programme of 12 departmental technical staff on post-mortem inspection. In the light of the decision not to proceed at this time with auxiliary deployment, the minister proposes to introduce a temporary rate cut of 5%, reducing the gross hourly rate (paid to the temporary veterinary inspectors) from €67.88 to €64.49.
The fees and associated payments payable to part-time temporary veterinary inspectors (TVIs) for meat inspection will be reduced after a statutory consultation process. Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has already consulted with Veterinary Ireland, the union for vets in Ireland, and has invited written submissions up to Jun 13 from other interested parties to assist in his deliberations on the fees.
This consultation period continues to Friday, Jun 29.
The decision affects independent vets (not on the payroll of the department, usually local practitioners, many of them retired) who carry out pre-mortem and post-portem veterinary inspections.
Post-mortem checks are over 80% of the total.
Some 650 of these vets who work part time in meat plants implemented a work to rule industrial action just before Christmas, 2011, in response to the department’s attempts to replace them with technicians.
A Government value-for-money review in 2009 had recommended the replacement policy — which has been implemented in some other EU member states, and in poultry plants in Ireland, where technicians carry out this work without additional external veterinary supervision.
