New Zealand Hala Slaughtermenl Union, NZHSUI

First of its Kind in the World

NZ Halal Bill

References

Halal Journal

تقرير عن النقابه

Second Anniversary

On 16 Sep 2006 the Union celebrated its 2^nd year of achievements. With our limited financial resources & volunteer services of the Union members the Halal Union materialises the following

Increase Union membership from 20 to more than 60 Halal workers out of 150 Halal slaughtermen in the country.
Successfully helped Halal Slaughtermen and their employers alike to resolve employment issues in which mutual understanding is achieve.
A focus to improve communication skills and happy Halal worker employee is one of the major goals of the Union management.
Offered the Meat Industry and New Zealand Government a Third Party Quality Assurance services to help resolve a religious technical issue resulted in NZ$50 million suspension of Malaysian Halal Contract. Union offer was well received by the industry & the Minister of Trade Negotiation.
Developed a good working relationship with one of the NZ Halal certifiers (NZ Islamic Meat Management)
Encouraging early school leavers, particularly from refugee and migrant families, to join the Halal Industry.
Introduced training and income generated projects.
Developed a Website and email list. More than 100,000 hits during the 2^nd year.

Source Union website host, obtained on 28 Oct 06

Participated in the First World Halal Forum (the baggiest Halal event in the world).
Hold a meeting with the Meat Trade Union and the New Zealand Council of Trade Union.
Organised a meeting with the assistance of Canterbury Development Corporation.
Identify partnership as a tool to achieve greater outcomes.
Electronically run the office using the internet and web based services.
Working towards carrying a feasibility study of introducing a Halal Bill.
Try to carry our duties professionally and sincerely in a transparent and constructive working environment and always ready to understand other points of views.

First Anniversary

The NZ Halal Slaughtermen Union celebrated the anniversary by the following achievements.

Sep 2004	On 16 September several members of the Christchurch Muslim community took the lead in establishing the first Halal Union, which was officially registered with the New Zealand Registrar of Unions.
Oct 2004	Letters of introduction went out to government and nongovernmental organisations. Objections to overseas Halal Slaughtermen recruitment were raised with the NZ Meat Industry and NZ Immigration.
Nov 2004	Feasibility study to train NZ Muslims as Halal Slaughtermen was prepared and sent to Work & Income New Zealand (WINZ), The Tertiary Education Commission, the former Community Employment Group, Christchurch Polytechnic, Canterbury Development Corporation, Canterbury Community Trust, Department of Internal Affairs, Immigration NZ, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Somali Canterbury Association and the Muslim Association of Canterbury.
Dec 2004	On 06 December the first meeting with officials in Christchurch was held at Christchurch Polytechnic to discuss the Union’s proposed feasibility study to train NZ Muslims to join the Meat Industry. The meeting was a great success and a second meeting was held the following week.
Jan 2005	Third meeting with Christchurch officials was held at the former Christchurch Community Employment Group centre and a New Zealand Qualifications Authority approved 12 week training program was developed.
Feb 2005	The Halal Union established contact with equivalent union organisations.
Mar 2005	Final NZQA approved training program was submitted to WINZ. Canterbury Community Trust provided financial support by granting the Union funds to maintain and coordinate the training program The Meat Industry Association and the Halal certifiers were invited to participate in training the NZ Muslim community in acquiring knife skills that would open up job opportunities not only as Halal Slaughtermen but also in industries besides butchers and supermarket meat outlets, such as fish processing, boning rooms, freezing works and the hospitality industry. Union Marketing Plan was prepared
Apr 2005	Newspaper article in one of the largest Arabic newspapers, Al Riyadh, from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, home of the biggest Halal market in the world. For a copy of the article in Arabic, please click here WINZ, Immigration NZ, the Meat Industry Association and the Halal certifiers were informed that time was critical in starting a training program to meet the demands of the next season, starting on Oct/Nov 2005.
May 2005	Received a response from the Meat Industry Association with respect to the Halal Training Program. Follow up correspondence went out to the Halal certifiers. No response was received from them in support of the Union initiative of training the NZ Muslim community
Jun 2005	Union Executive Committee decided to visit Hamilton in the North Island to promote its training program. A positive response from the Somali Community in Hamilton, Hastings and Wellington was received. Due to the limited financial resources of the Union, it was not possible to meet with all communities and for this the Union offers its sincere apologies to those communities we did not see, and we promise to visit them when the resources are available.
Jul 2005	Union membership is up from 25 to 58 out of 165 Halal Slaughtermen positions in NZ. The Union Management decided to visit all Halal workers at the end of the year and membership of the Union is expected to reach 100 to 120.
Aug 2005	The Union learned through the media of the dispute between New Zealand and Malaysia over Halal procedures. The Union offered the Meat Industry, MAF and MFAT its willingness to help resolve the dispute between the two countries (NZ and Malaysia). The Union’s offer was well received by the Meat Industry Association and NZ government officials. The Union received a notice from WINZ on the Halal Slaughtermen interviews. The Union continues to keep close communications with Immigration NZ over the recruitment of overseas Halal workers.
Sep 2005	The Union held its first AGM and sent its Annual Financial Statement to the NZ Companies Office.
Oct 2005	In response to the Union’s submission of an Application of Interest, WINZ informed the Union that the first course for Halal workers, called Straight 2 Work for Halal Slaughtermen, would be started. The Halal Union welcomed this news and later learned that NZ Islamic Meat Management (NZIMM) would be supervising the course. The Union offered its full support to WINZ and congratulated NZIMM on this positive step.
The members of the union are expressing their satisfaction with the progress