UK politicians have “exposed the lies” that Kraft Foods used in its takeover of Cadbury, Unite, the union representing workers at the UK confectioner, has said.
Kraft today (16 March) faced a committee of MPs to discuss the US food giant’s takeover of Cadbury.
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The Business, Innovations and Skills (BIS) committee, which is considering whether changes to the UK’s takeover regulations should be considered, heard evidence from Kraft vice president Mark Firestone, alongside Cadbury president Trevor Bond and HR director Richard Doyle.
Unite was also represented by deputy general secretary Jack Dromey.
Kraft has come under fire over its decision to close Cadbury’s Somerdale chocolate factory in the south-west of England.
During the takeover battle for UK confectioner Cadbury, Kraft had said that it believed the factory – which Cadbury had planned to shutter – could be kept open.
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By GlobalDataHowever, shortly after the US firm had secured ownership of Cadbury, it announced that the site would be closed and production would be moved to Poland, in line with Cadbury’s plans.
Following the meeting today, Dromey said: “Parliament has exposed the truth. Kraft lied. Six thousand Cadbury workers will never trust Kraft’s chief executive officer Irene Rosenfeld unless she personally meets the workers and guarantees investment, no factory closures or compulsory redundancies and that their pay and pensions are safe for five years.”
Dromey said the Committee forced Kraft to “take stumbling steps in the right direction”, but that it needs to “go further” by agreeing a five-year guarantee “to rebuild trust”.
The union is now calling for a ‘Cadbury’s law’ aimed at preventing hostile takeovers of UK companies that are not in the public interest.
Jennie Formby, Unite national officer for the food and retail sector, told just-food: “The document was given to the committee, but because of time limits, they said they will take it and consider it in detail. It calls for a commission to take over mergers and whole number of other issues.”
According to the BBC, Firestone told the Committee he was “terribly sorry” for the firm’s earlier pledge to keep the site open.
However, Firestone insisted that the company was sincere in its intentions and only realised that it would, in fact, have to close the site when it discovered Cadbury had already spent tens of millions of pounds kitting out its factory in Poland.
