Cadbury pay deal ‘quickest on record’: Unite

The deal, running from March this year until March 2022, amounted to a 2.7% pay increase and the retail price index rate for years two and three for employees at the Chirk, Birmingham and Marlbrook factories.

About 1,000 members of staff are expected to benefit from the deal.

Unite national officer for the food industry Joe Clarke told Food Manufacture ​that negotiations for the deal were completed in just four hours, significantly less time than the previous deal’s 13 meetings.

‘Constructive and direct dialogue’​

“It was very constructive and direct dialogue and I think there is a recognition from the Mondelēz perspective the UK is performing very strongly,”​ said Clarke. “That helps us in the negotiations, because the UK is in growth across the whole Mondelēz portfolio.​

“There was a general consensus from the union perspective that the company were doing well, the profits were good. Therefore, we wanted a straightforward, no strings attached deal and that’s what we managed to achieve.”​

Clarke attributed the increased performance of Cadbury in the UK as a key to the smooth sailing of the pay negotiations.

Increase efficiency ​

“The level of investment we had a few years’ ago​ [following Kraft’s acquisition of Cadbury in 2009] has led to the general efficiency of the sites in the UK being up to the 80% general efficiency mark. ​

“The increased efficiency, higher productivity and more efficient operation all reflected in the very quick pay negotiations.”​

Looking to the future, Clarke said the pay deal would give the Cadbury workers stability and allow the business to continue focusing on growing volume and investment.

Keeping the business strong would leave Unite in good stead for future pay negotiations, as well as securing the jobs of its members, he added.

Meanwhile, Müller Milk & Ingredients’ Derbyshire plant is most at risk of closure as a result of its continuing cost-reduction programme, threatening 228 jobs ​​according to the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw).