Cadbury job concerns continue as Kraft gives no pledge

SENIOR executives at Kraft have refused to rule out redundancies at Cadbury’s Bournville plant in Birmingham once its two-year moratorium on job cuts is over.

The executives told members of the Business Select Committee yesterday that the US food giant would not extend its promise beyond next March.

Unions representing workers at Bournville have already expressed their concerns at the situation and the announcement will do little to ease their concerns.

However, Nick Bunker, Kraft’s head of UK operations, said the business was performing well and the hope was that jobs could be protected.

MPs are concerned in case the company decides to do what it did to the Somerdale plant, near Bristol, and opt to close it after giving assurances prior to its £11.5bn takeover of the confectioner that the factory would stay open.

The situation at Bournville is somewhat different. Kraft has designated the factory as its global centre for chocolate development and so its future would seem more certain.

However, whether it remains a manufacturing base has yet to be determined.

The company told MPs that investment had taken place at Bournville in line with its new role and that currently, there were 50 vacancies at the plant.

The managers also defended the decision by their chief executive Irene Rosenfeld not to attend the hearing. They said she was not being contemptuous of the committee and that she had the best interests of the 5,500 UK employees at Cadbury and Kraft in mind.

MPs were nevertheless angry at the snub and said it amounted to a slap in the face for its authority.