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Keep Cadbury independent - UK and Irish workers unite to stop Kraft swallowing Cadbury

10th December 2009

Keep Cadbury Independent - UK and Irish workers unite to stop Kraft swallowing Cadbury

Campaign launch

When: Midday, Tuesday, 15th December 2009
Where: the Cadbury Club, Bournville Lane, Bournville, Birmingham, B30 2LU
Who: Cadbury workers, MPs and Unite the union (with Crème Eggs, Fruit & Nut and other Cadbury favourites)

Cadbury workers will launch their bid to protect their company's independence and fend off a hostile bid by the massive multi-national Kraft on Tuesday, December 15th.

The workers and their union, Unite, will get the community fight-back underway from the heart of Cadbury at its historic Bournville home.

The launch will see the workers from the UK and Dublin and their growing coalition of support, including leading local MPs and public figures, stand together to resist the takeover by Kraft, which wants to saddle Cadbury with enormous debts and is certain to look for job losses and pay cuts to meet its massive borrowings needed to finance this takeover.

Ahead of Tuesday's launch, Len McCluskey, Unite assistant general secretary, said: "There is serious and growing worry, stretching from the shop floor to the wiser heads on the City trading floor, about what the Kraft offer and any ensuing bidding war could mean for Cadbury.

"Cadbury is a great UK success story - and it was and is not for sale. But suddenly, a hostile bid and swarming speculators has thrown its future, its investment plans and the jobs of thousands of workers here and in Ireland up in the air.

"We must see off the Kraft bid and any others which do not have this company and its workforce's best interests at heart. And we must persuade our government and the regulators to act fast so that healthy UK businesses cannot again fall prey to the finance vultures."

On Tuesday, Unite will unveil a petition to Keep Cadbury Independent and materials warning shareholders that they would be "Fruit & Nutty" to sell Cadbury. They will be aided in this by the workers, as well as by some of the favourites from the chocolate makers' great product range, including giant Crème Eggs, plus bars of Fruit and Nut and Dairy Milk.

Unite is also contacting all Cadbury shareholders to urge them to reject Kraft's bid, citing Kraft's plan to pay for the company through massive borrowing, Kraft’s poor record in takeovers and falling share value, and the union's concerns that Kraft will move all investment decisions out of the UK and into the Kraft boardroom overseas.

Unite and the workers will also be taking the Keep Cadbury Independent campaign to parliament on Wednesday 16th December to alert MPs and ministers to their concerns.

ENDS