Tommy Broughan TD

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Kraft's Cadbury Takeover Bid Worrying Prospect For Local Workers

Issued : Tuesday 19 January, 2010

The proposed takeover of Cadbury by the global conglomerate Kraft is a very worrying prospect for the 900 Cadbury workers at its Irish facilities in Coolock, Dublin 17 and Rathmore, Co. Kerry.

Cadbury has operated their large Coolock facility with more than 2000 workers for much of the past half century and where many classic Cadbury brands like "Twirl" were invented. Generations of families in the five parishes of Coolock and in nearby Artane, Donaghmede, Raheny and Kilbarrack have been employed in secure manufacturing jobs at the plant. Cadbury under CEO and Chairperson Donal Byrne was also very supportive of local jobs and training initiatives across the Northside.

However in 2006 450 jobs were axed followed by a proposed 200 more job losses in 2009. This left the total number employed in Dublin and Kerry at just 900. During both redundancy periods, the company promised further multi-million investment in the Irish facilities. However, Cadbury Ireland has recently been hit badly by the euro/sterling differential as well the partial relocation of production to a plant in Egypt.

Yet the current Kraft takeover bid will raise alarm bells for local Cadbury workers. An analysis carried out by the Unite trade union suggested that Kraft’s huge debts of as much as £22 billion may put at risk as many as 7,000 jobs at Cadbury itself.

Unite also highlighted the risks of a Kraft takeover to Cadbury employees, shareholder value and to the much loved Cadbury brand in Ireland and the UK. Cadbury as a specialist confectionary company has achieved on average 6% growth over the past four years. In contrast the diverse Kraft company has amassed billions in debts over the past few years.

Employees and their representatives have rightly proposed that they are closely consulted on an ongoing basis during this takeover bid. They have also suggested that strict guarantees are put in place for a five year period to avoid the introduction of compulsory redundancies and to protect current terms and conditions. My constituents in the greater Coolock area will follow these developments with great anxiety in coming months.