After intensive behind the scenes efforts to secure a buyer for the struggling Arnott’s biscuit factory in Melbourne, the prime focus for a rescue deal, Snack Foods, has turned down the opportunity to buy the plant after disagreement with Arnott’s, leaving the union campaigners to concede that it will close next year with the loss of over 600 jobs.
 
Simon Rowell, managing director of Snack Foods, explained that the company was interested in purchasing the plant as a going concern, however “it doesn’t seem as if Arnott’s are keen to dispose of it on that basis.”


Terry Breheny, assistant state secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, said that Arnott’s was apparently determined to close the Burwood factory.


The union has continued its call for local consumers to boycott Arnott’s products.