Wagga Wagga abattoir is owned by Teys Australia, a Beef and offal export accredited facility located in NSW

Other Names

• Teys Australia Southern Pty Ltd

Current Operation

• Aus-Meat Accreditation #291. Accessed 02/10/2017
  • Export accredited facility processing Beef and Beef offal
• MSA Licensed Plant for Beef processing⁵

Source  www.teysaust.com.au. 15.09.2017. Teys Cargill Logo

• Teys Australia website link – http://www.teysaust.com.au
  • for employment queries go to Application for Employment with Teys
  • For sale queries to operator of Wagga Wagga go to  sales@teysusa.com

Source. www.teysaust.com.au. 15/09/2017. Teys Contact details

Location

• Wagga Wagga is a major regional city in NSW, Located on the Murrambidgee river, midway between Sydney and Melbourne

Location relative to other abattoirs across Australia

Location of Australian Abattoirs

Owner

• Teys¹
• Abattoirs owned by Teys in Queensland
  • Beenleigh (QLD)
  • Rockhampton (QLD)
  • Biloela (QLD)
• Abattoirs owned by Teys in NSW
  • Tamworth (NSW)
  • Naracoorte (NSW)
  • Wagga (NSW)

History

2002

• March 27. US food multinational Cargill issues a three month lockout notice to meat workers at its Wagga Wagga abattoir⁶
  • Lockout will begin the following week 02/04/2002⁶.
• Wage talks have been ongoing for the last five months between, workers, union and meatworks^7.
• AMIEU union organiser at this point is Steve Gurney⁷.
  • If workers endorse the latest union proposal the company has agreed to withdraw the lockout notice⁷.
• April 3. Workers vote to accept new pay deal⁹
• Cargill public affairs manager at this time is Lloyd George⁹
  • Majority of workers voted for the agreement⁹
  • 20 maintenance workers are yet to vote on a separate agreement⁹
  • An official vote would take place in 2 weeks, 10/04/2002⁹
• Wagga Wagga abattoir has approximately 475 workers at this time¹⁰.
• Cargill have kept the facility closed until the official vote preventing the workers returning to work¹⁰.
  • Cargill won’t re-open until the maintenance union and maintenance workers vote on their agreement¹⁰.
  • Maintenance union have refused the offer¹⁰.
  • Currently 16 maintenance workers on site¹¹.
• Australian Manufacturing Employees Union (AMWU) organiser Rob Leonard¹¹.
• Cargill lift the lockout and continue to negotiate with the maintenance union¹¹
• Cargill has extended leave entitlements to workers while the plant was shutdown¹¹

2003

• January. Odour problems occur from the facility resulting in court action in August 2004¹⁷.
  • Animals parts that had been cooked to remove moisture and fat had created the odour¹⁷.
• March. NSW Government approve a plan to double the facilities production, $30M¹³.
  • Progress is in the hands of Cargills American parent company¹³.
• May. Cattle market was tight and running hours at the facility may be required to be reduced further during winter¹³.
  • Facility will only operate for 3 days next week (First week in June)¹³.
• July. Workers have been asked to take annual leave for a fortnight while the facility closes due to drought-induced downturn in stock numbers¹².
• 450 workers are employed at the facility¹²
• General manager at Wagga Wagga abattoir at this point is Dick Kelley¹²
• Impact of drought and rising Australian dollar had hit the beef processing industry hard¹².
• Wagga Wagga’s main export destination was North America and Asia¹².
• Australian dollar has appreciated more than 30% against the American dollar in the past 18 months, largely due to Australia’s higher interest rates¹⁴.
  • Australian dollar is currently $US66c¹⁴.
  • Exporters need rates to ease incase it prices them out of key overseas markets¹⁴.
• November. Expansion is given the go ahead from Cargill Beef¹⁶.
  • $30M upgrade will boost output from 850 head cattle a day to 1,200 head¹⁶.
  • Mean 125 new jobs, taking employment level to 625¹⁶.
  • Upgrades are expected to start in January 2004¹⁶.
    • completion by March 2005¹⁶.
• Director of Communications for Cargill Beef at this point is Mark Klein¹⁶.

2004

• July.Expansion plans have not started yet¹⁸.
  • Development application had been approved for some time¹⁸.
  • Construction plans were yet to be submitted¹⁸.
• August. Wagga Wagga abattoir is ordered to pay $72,000 for emitting offensive odours¹⁷.
  • Incidents had occurred in January 2003¹⁷.
  • Odours were smelt over 2km from the facility¹⁷.
  • Order was to spend $32,000 planting 4,500 trees along or near the Olympic Highway¹⁷.
    • and pay $40,000 in court costs¹⁷
• Abattoir has upgraded facilities to ensure the odour problems don’t  happen again¹⁷.
  • Installed a bio-filtration system and the roof has been replaced at the rendering plant¹⁷.

2006

• January. Cargill general Manager Bill Buckner at official opening of the $36M expansion¹⁹.
• Cattle are sourced for the abattoir from the company’s feedlot at Jindalee and a radius of approximately 200km¹⁸⁹

2009

• Wagga Wagga abattoir has a failure at their sewer treatment system creating offensive odour problems to neighbours²⁰

2010

• August. Cargill Beef will introduce a $13M wastewater treatment system²⁰
• Pollution improvement works will result in a 20% cut to the abattoirs daily kill²⁰
  • Cargill had approval to kill to 2,000 head per day, this has been reduced to 1,600 head cattle per day²⁰
  • Had been killing 1,250 head per day²⁰
• 104 conditions were put in place by the Department of planning²⁰.
• Cargill Environment manager Charles Hollingsworth²¹
• Pollution reduction program will reduce carbon emissions²¹
  • generate over 1 megawatt of renewable energy from captured biogas²¹
  • improve water quality²¹

2014

• Teys purchase a feedlot and cropping property in north central Victoria from Elders in Charlton¹¹.
  • Feedlot has capacity of 20,000 head¹
  • Cost $10M and is Victoria’s largest feedlot¹
  • Property is 776 hectares¹
  • Feedlot infrastructure is 150 hectares with feed mills, flaking plants¹
  • All staff had accepted employment with Teys¹
  • Teys committed to capital upgrades over the next 3 years¹
  • Primarily provide custom feeding to Naracoorte and Wagga abattoirs.¹
  • Previous owners had custom fed 80% of capacity prior to sale²

2017

• September. Teys Chairman at this time. Allan Teys AM⁴
  • Teys Chief Executive officer at this time. Brad Teys⁴

Source. Teys website 15/09/2017 Current leadership team

Sources Wagga Wagga. #291. Teys Australia Southern Pty Ltd

1. ‘Teys buys Elders Charlton feedlot’ QLD Countrylife 31.07.2014
2. ‘Charlton workers keep jobs’ The Weekly Times 30.07.2014
3. Aus-meat Accreditation listing. 30.03.2015
4. http://www.teysaust.com.au/
5. MSA Licensed Plants 06.06.2014. MLA
6. ‘Lockout ban rests on deal’ Daily Telegraph 27.03.2002. via ebscohost
7. ‘Vote on Tuesday could prevent lock-out at meatworks’ Australian 28.03.2002. via ebscohost
8. ‘Pay deal jobs lifeline’ Daily Telegraph 29.03.2002. via ebscohost
9. ‘Deal carved for meatworkers’ Daily Telegraph 03.04.2002. via ebscohost
10. ‘Meatworkers locked out’ Daily Telegraph 04.03.2002 via ebscohost
11. ‘Meatworkers back on the job’ Daily Telegraph 04.04.20020 via ebscohost
12. ‘NSW: Drought causes temporary closure of abattoir’ Australian 01.07.2003. via ebscohost
13. ‘Abattoir weathering tight conditions’ ABC Rural news 27.05.2003. via ebscohost
14. ‘Exporters up the ante on rate cut’ Illawarra Mercury 02.07.2003 via ebscohost
15. ‘Abattoir hits hard times’ Daily Telegraph 02.07.2003
16. ‘Abattoir gets the nod for $30M revamp’ ABC Rural News 11.11.2003. via ebscohost
17. ‘NSW: Wagga Wagga abattoir ordered to pay for smell’ Australian. 08.04.2004. via ebscohost
18. ‘Meatworks revamp nearing start’ ABC 12.07.2004
19. ‘Meatworks’ $36M expansion promises beef producer boost’ ABC Rural News 25.01.2006
20. ‘Sewer woes to cut meatworks output’ ABC Rural News 04.08.2010
21. ‘Cargill to reduce pollution from Wagga Wagga abattoir’ ABC Rural News. 04.08.10.
22. ‘Cargill serious about Teys’ http://www.farmonline.com.au 08.02.11
23. ‘Victorian processors continue to source’ QLD Country Life 20.10.2011
24. ‘After decades of keeping a relatively low profile in Aust’ Stock Journal 05.01.2012
25. ‘News Brief. 26 Sept.’ Beef Central 26.09.2011
26. ‘Record yardings continue’ Stock and Land 12.12.2003
27. ‘Wagga’s Heinz factory closes, but Teys interested in facility’ ABC Rural News 18.12.2014
28. ‘Teys looks at closing abattoirs’ http://www.farmonline.com.au 17.02.2015
29. ‘Teys in talks with labour recruitment………’ ABC Rural News 24.06.2015
30. ‘Teys upgrades Wagga cold store’ http://www.farmonline.com.au 21.07.2015
31. ‘Teys Australia to shed jobs, reduce output…….’ ABC Rural News 16.02.2016
32. ‘Exclusive: Teys: Cargill seal deal to merge’ Beef Central 10.05.2011
33. ‘Sweet fit for Teys and Cargill’ Beef Central 15.05.2011
34. ‘Business as usual under merged Teys/Cargill beef venture’ Beef Central 02.09.2011
35. ‘Teys: 800 jobs at risk as union rejects wages offer’ Beef Central 12.07.13
36. MLA Industry Projections 2016
37. ‘Top 25 Lotfeeders: No 2 Teys Australia’ Beef Central 19.02.2015
38. ‘Cattle supply forces retrenchments at two JBS QLD plants’ Beef Central 15.07.2016
39. ‘Beef plants laying idle as cattle squeeze reaches critical point’ Beef Central. 16.08.2016
40. ‘Teys Wagga granted EU accreditation’ http://www.farmonline.com.au
41. ‘Teys Wagga Wagga plant picks up EU accreditation’ Beef Central 08.12.2016
42. ‘Wagga sale 19/12/2016: Rates rise in final sale of 2016’ Beef Central 19.12.2016
43. ‘Teys cuts back operations at Wagga, as cattle supply dwindles’ Beef Central. 15.02.2016
44. ‘Cattle shortages forces processor cut backs’ http://www.farmonline.com.au 16.02.2016
45. ‘Teys cops flack from ALEC over explanation behind cutbacks at Lakes Creek plant’ Beef Central 09.02.2016
46. ‘Weekly kill: Weather again plays havoc with processing operations’ Beef Central 20.09.2016
47. ‘Teys animal health feedback project aims to lift industry performance’ Beef Central 11.10.2016
48. ‘Teys to launch its own pasturefed standard, as alternative to PCAS’ Beef Central 27.04.2017
49. ‘$18.5M investment as Teys Wagga plant gears-up for EU trade’ Beef Central. 14.06.2017
50. EU Accredited facilities in Australia. 11.10.2016
51. ‘Weekly Kill: Normal service set to resume, after six-week hibernation’ Beef Central 03.05.2017
52. ‘Teys launches feedback data project for feeder cattle’ Beef Central. 21.06.2017%
53. ‘Judge dismisses bid by Teys Australia to stop Wagga Wagga developments’ ABC News 20.01.2015

Tagged: Australian abattoir, Beef processor, New South Wales abattoir, New South wales meat processing, Wagga Wagga abattoir