Union fury as Kraft at last confirms Cadbury plant will shut
9th February 2010
Reacting to the news that Kraft is to close the Cadbury
Somerdale plant as feared all along by Unite, Jennie Formby, the
union's national officer for the food and drinks sector, said: "It
is with great anger that we heard today’s announcement by Kraft
that the closure of the Somerdale plant will go ahead as
planned.
"Anger that Kraft deliberately misled many hundreds of decent
men and women in Keynsham by saying that they would keep Somerdale
open, despite Unite making very clear to them as early as September
that this seemed impossible with the timeline for closure already
seemingly set in stone.
“Anger that Kraft's thirst for public approval during the most
unpopular takeover we’ve seen in recent times drove the company to
ignore those warnings and instead choose to state repeatedly that
the site would not close.
“Anger that they have ignored repeated requests for meetings and
discussions over the future, and anger that even as senior
management were on site in Somerdale preparing to make their
statement to our members, a Kraft director was assuring Unite that
they had not made any decision yet but we would be the first to
know.
"This sends the worst possible message to the 6,000 other
Cadbury workers in the UK and Ireland. It tells them that
Kraft cares little for its workers and has contempt for the trade
union that represents them."
The Somerdale plant, which makes Crunchie and Curly Wurly bars,
is to close by the end of the year.
Jennie Formby is to visit the Somerdale plant tomorrow
(Wednesday) at 10am to meet with the workforce.
ENDS
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