Unite brands Dairy Crest boss ‘fat cat’ and ‘hypocritical’
Unite said it was “rank hypocrisy” that Allen would receive the bonus if the sale of Dairy Crest’s milk business to Müller UK & Ireland is approved by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) when the firm’s workers were offered a “stingy” pay rise.
“Dairy Crest boss Mark Allen is the fat cat that got the cream – this is rank hypocrisy given that the management has offered its 3,000-strong workforce a miserly pay deal for this year,” claimed Unite’s national officer for road transport, commercial logistics and retail distribution Matt Draper.
“He stands to receive this bonus, according to media reports, on completion of the takeover,” he added.
Give bonus to staff
Allen should give up his bonus so it can go towards giving all Dairy Crest workers a pay increase, Unite claimed.
Unite said despite concerns over job losses, the sale that would leave just two major players in milk production and distribution – Arla and Müller – was good for the dairy industry.
“But what leaves a sour taste in the mouth is the £1.2M bonus for Mark Allen when the company is saying that it has no money for a decent pay rise,” Draper said. “This is on top of his latest reported salary of £1.28M annually.”
Further wage negotiations between management and staff are due to be held on Thursday July 30 for 2015, Unite claimed.
Dairy Crest milk staff by numbers
3,000 staff involved in milk production and delivery in the UK
2,000 in milk production and delivery
1,000 in the cheese and spread business
1,500 Unite members employed by the company
It hoped a better offer would be put on the table than the current one.
Strong support for Allen
A Dairy Crest spokeswoman said in a statement: “Dairy Crest is going through a period of significant change. Mark Allen is uniquely placed to lead Dairy Crest through these changes. If successful, he will receive a payment in shares at the end of 2017, the details of which are clearly set out in Dairy Crest’s annual report.
“Dairy Crest’s shareholders showed their strong support for Mark and approved these arrangements at the extraordinary general meeting in December 2014.”
Dairy Crest revealed its plan to sell its loss-making dairies to Müller on November 6 2014, warning the deal could take several months to complete and raising the possibility of a CMA investigation.
The sale covered Dairy Crest’s fresh liquid milk, flavoured milk – including the FRijj brand – bulk and potted cream, bulk butter and milk powder businesses.
Also included in the deal were the firm’s dairy facilities at: Severnside, Chadwell Heath, Foston and Hanworth plus about 70 depots.
The acquisition took a key step forward on Monday (June 29), after the CMA said it “agreed in principle” to Müller’s offer of processing capacity at two sites serving the South West of England and South Wales to a third – party dairy processor.
The deal – thought to include the processing plants operated by Dairy Crest at Severnside and Müller Wiseman’s Bridgewater site – was designed to allay CMA worries that the acquisition would reduce competition.
