Community & Business
27 March, 2024
Ronald calls it quits
Long time local meatworks union representative and organiser Ronald Weston was celebrated at a retirement do held at the Grand Hotel.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time, always been union-oriented and always loved to do the best job I can,” Mr Weston told the Champion.
“You have a blue with management, but 5 minutes later you get over it,” he said.
“I don’t hold grudges.
“You have an argument and you move on.”
Mr Weston lists his most proud moments as seeing Same Job, Same Pay come in for Island workers.
It’s been 51 years since he started cleaning a butcher’s shop in Toowoomba on Saturdays, 34 years since he started work at Oakey Beef Exports and 13 years working as an organiser.
Things have changed since those times.
“If you wanted a job at Oakey Beef, you had to stand out the front at the gate,” he said.
“They would look you and down and say ‘Right you come in, you come in, the rest of you can go home.’
“If you put in a good effort, you’d be back the next day. “
He recalled a moment where the workers called then abattoir manager Trevor Mickelborough’s bluff during a dispute.
“One time the workers had left and told the waiting media pack outside. ‘We’ve been sacked.’,” he said.
“(Trevor) was on the TV that night saying ‘No, no, they’re not sacked.’
Ronald paid tribute to former colleagues head boner Dean Mason, current Oakey Union President Heath “Billy” Lebsanft and former President Allan Saad.
He’s confident in the future of the union branch at the plant and says participation is still high.
“Conditions are still pretty good out there, management’s pretty good,” he said.
“Membership’s still pretty high.
“It’s a bit hard with some of the Islanders who don’t always speak English well.”
A new organiser will be appointed later this year.
