Cadbury workers to lobby Government for support

Cadbury workers will lobby the Government tomorrow for support to win jobs and investment guarantees from their new employer on the eve of the expected takeover of the chocolate-maker by US giant Kraft.

Cadbury shareholders will vote tomorrow on a revised offer from Kraft, but union officials said the US firm had remained "silent" on the workforce's future.

Hundreds of members of Unite will urge the Government to ensure that pledges to the workforce from the new owners were more than "warm words".

As Cadbury shareholders vote on whether to accept the Kraft bid, workers from factories across the UK will gather in central London to lobby ministers and MPs seeking help on guarantees for the future.

Jack Dromey, Unite's deputy general secretary, said: "Our fear is that the Kraft takeover is not in the national interest, and in the months of this hostile takeover process we have heard nothing from Kraft to calm fears that it is in the interest of the Cadbury workforce either.

"Instead, the fate of manufacturing workers in Terry's of York, who found that Kraft ownership saw their plant close, weighs heavily on the minds of the Cadbury workforce.

"Kraft cared little for the great history of that plant or for the skills of its workforce so we must seize the opportunity now to ensure that Cadbury and its workforce do not suffer the same fate.

"The Government must secure meaningful pledges from Kraft, and police them so that Kraft cannot again walk away from a UK workforce. Ministers must make it abundantly clear that closures and mass redundancies will not be accepted by the British government or the British people.

"The Government has said, and rightly so, that we must rebuild our manufacturing base. It is simply wrong, however, that hostile takeovers of successful British companies can happen."

Unite said there was still no information on the consequences of the deal for the workforces of both companies.

The union called on Kraft to make its intentions clear, warning that workers were "extremely worried" for their future.