Cadbury Workers Urged To Accept Pay Deal
Workers at the doomed Keynsham plant offered improved deal by new owners Kraft.
Five hundred Cadbury works at the doomed Keynsham plant are being urged to accept a pay deal from new owners, Kraft.
It follows an angry five-month battle to win more cash from the American owners after the first offer was branded "an insult”.
A ballot recommending acceptance of the 3.7 per cent rise is currently underway.
If accepted, the award will be backdated to March 31, providing a substantial bonus for workers’ pay packets.
The pay claim is seen as the last chance for hundreds of Somerdale workers to boost their redundancy packages after the site was earmarked for closure.
Back in the spring Unite reacted with fury to the initial offer tabled by management, saying the proposed two per cent deal was "an insult to our members.”
The 3.7 per cent offer comes as thousands of Cadbury workers are being asked to increase their pension contributions to help reduce an estimated £200 million deficit in the UK fund.
Cadbury Unite convenor John Flavin said: "The original offer stood at only two per cent and we have been offered 3.7 per cent, so I do not think that we have done too badly in the current climate.
"Last year, we only got 0.5 per cent and the company wriggled out of what they were supposed to pay, a minimum of two per cent.
"The negotiations have been hard work; we believe this is the company’s final offer and that this is as far as we can go.
"We have put the offer to a meeting of the shop stewards and it is being recommended for acceptance.” He said the ballot result was due on August 27.
Nearly 2,000 Unite members will vote on the deal, including 1,000 at Bournville, 500 at the doomed Somerdale plant, and several hundred more at Marlbrook and Chirk.
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