Factory workers continue to work hard in order to keep our stomachs full with home-cooked meals during the lockdown. Big thanks to the 19 Filipino meat processing operatives at the abattoir and boning hall of McCarren Meats, the oldest traditional pig-slaughtering and bacon curing business in Ireland. Hailing from Manila, Batangas, Rizal, and Ilocos, the 19 Filipinos, who arrived in three batches in August 2019, make up the first and biggest group of Filipino meat factory workers to arrive in Ireland. Two of them are the first females from the Philippines who are manning the butchering line of the family-run pork factory in Co. Cavan which processes 7,000 pigs weekly for the global market.
At a Cavan Filipino Workers Forum held at Cavan Crystal Hotel on October 19, 2019, human resources manager Claire Smith said, “The Filipino work ethic is one to be admired. They have all moved halfway around the world leaving family and friends behind, but they still come to into work everyday with a smile on their face. They are courteous, and they have the hunger to make a new life for themselves in Ireland,” said Smith.
Thank you to all factory workers in the food industry who continue to nourish Ireland and the rest of the world as we fight the battle against the Corona Virus.
If you know of any Filipino in Ireland who are working beyond the call of duty to support the Irish community, please let us know. Thank you.
