Day 096 - 03 Mar 95 - Page 42
1 throughout Europe for this purpose -- very effective.
2
3 Q. But the accumulator is after the -----
4 A. After the sticking area.
5
6 Q. After sticking, right. But the part before that, it could
7 be speeded up if you managed to stun two pigs in a batch or
8 three pigs in a batch, rather than just one?
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: As I understand it, what you are saying
11 is, supposing you were stunning pigs as quickly as you
12 could so that you end up stunning them twice as fast as
13 automatically they are released from the accumulation on to
14 the line, as it were, thereafter, you would get a backing
15 up?
16 A. Yes.
17
18 Q. And you would just have to stop stunning ---
19 A. That is correct.
20
21 Q. -- until it freed itself?
22 A. Yes, because the stunning at all times is always
23 slightly quicker than the conveyor is.
24
25 Q. Yes, so, in effect, you have to have gaps or slow it
26 down ---
27 A. Correct.
28
29 Q. -- if you do not want to have a jam back from the lights,
30 as it were?
31 A. Correct.
32
33 MS. STEEL: The stunning is always slightly quicker than the
34 conveyor, so does that mean you have always got meat
35 building up in the accumulator?
36 A. No, because you have pigs that, you know, are more
37 droveable than others and, you know, quicker and slower,
38 and it does vary at that point.
39
40 Q. So it would not necessarily mean that you could not stick
41 them any quicker?
42 A. No, no. Obviously, the staff in the stunning pen can
43 see the accumulator, right? They can see the top of it and
44 they can then see if it has come to a stage where, say, it
45 is full, they will then stop stunning until it released
46 itself.
47
48 Q. Are the workers paid peace rate?
49 A. No.
50
51 Q. They are not?
52 A. No.
53
54 Q. How long has that been the case?
55 A. 30 years, I should think. 20, 30 years, something like
56 that.
57
58 Q. The stunning uses head stunning rather than head to body
59 stunning?
60 A. Head stunning, yes.
