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• Workers Uniting questions Vale’s cancellation of investor events
• Tory plan for safety on building sites could lead to more deaths says Unite
• Hundreds of bus routes hit as First Group drivers set to strike, confirms Unite
• Keep Cadbury Independent - UK and Irish workers unite to stop Kraft swallowing Cadbury
• Gibraltar's Moroccan workers' fight for rights echoes Ghurkhas, Unite tells foreign secretary
• Unite calls on Miliband to right the wrong of the Miami 5 and stop pussyfooting around with the Agency Workers Directive
• Unite's reaction to Tory proposals to cut 25 per cent off the MoD's budget
• ‘Unfair’ working conditions of parliamentary interns to be discussed at speaker’s summit

Keep Cadbury Independent - UK and Irish workers unite to stop Kraft swallowing Cadbury

14th December 2009

Campaign launch

• When: Midday, Tuesday, 15th December 2009
  
• Where: the Cadbury Club, Bournville Lane, Bournville, Birmingham, B30 2LU
  
• Who: Cadbury workers, MPs and Unite the union (with Crème Eggs, Fruit & Nut and other Cadbury favourites)
  
  

Cadbury workers will launch their bid to protect their company's independence and fend off a hostile bid by the massive multi-national Kraft on Tuesday, December 15th.

The workers and their union, Unite, will get their community fight-back underway from the heart of Cadbury at its historic Bournville home.

The launch will see workers from the UK and Dublin and their growing coalition of support, including leading local MPs and public figures, stand together to resist the takeover by Kraft, which wants to saddle Cadbury with enormous debts and is certain to look for job losses and pay cuts to meet its massive borrowings needed to finance this takeover.

Ahead of Tuesday's launch, Len McCluskey, Unite assistant general secretary, said: "There is serious and growing worry, stretching from the shop floor to the wiser heads on the City trading floor, about what the Kraft offer and any ensuing bidding war could mean for Cadbury.

"Cadbury is a great UK success story - and it was and is not for sale. But suddenly, a hostile bid and swarming speculators has thrown its future, its investment plans and the jobs of thousands of workers here and in Ireland up in the air.

"We must see off the Kraft bid and any others which do not have this company and its workforce's best interests at heart. And we must persuade our government and the regulators to act fast so that healthy UK businesses can not again fall prey to the finance vultures."

On Tuesday, Unite will unveil a petition to Keep Cadbury independent and materials warning shareholders that they would be "Fruit & Nutty" to sell Cadbury. They will be aided in this by the workers, as well as by some of the favourites from the chocolate makers' great product range, including giant Crème Eggs, plus bars of Fruit and Nut and Dairy Milk. The petition and all materials will be hosted on a dedicated website www.welovecadbury.com

Unite is also contacting all Cadbury shareholders to urge them to reject Kraft's bid, citing Kraft's plan to pay for the company through massive borrowing, Kraft’s poor record in takeovers, its falling share value, and the union's concerns that Kraft will move all investment decisions out of the UK and into the Kraft boardroom overseas.

Unite and the workers will also be taking the Keep Cadbury independent campaign to parliament on Wednesday, 16th December to alert MPs and ministers to their concerns.

ENDS

SIgn the Unite petition at www.welovecadbury.com and find out more on Unite's campaign to Keep Cadbury independent