Raw Deal - Kraft and Cadbury

[richlevy]

From here

CADBURY STAFF ISSUED WITH PENSION ULTIMATUM BY NEW OWNERS KRAFT
U.S. food group Kraft Foods ......, the new owner of confectioner Cadbury, has told 3,600 Cadbury staff that they face a three-year pay freeze unless they leave the company's final salary pension scheme. Kraft has discovered a clause in Cadbury's pension trust deed preventing it from changing members' benefits in any way deemed "unfair or materially detrimental" ........
Kraft is not forbidden from closing the scheme, but would have to pay an insurer the full cost of taking it on if it did so. Cadbury's pension deficit was 258 million pounds according to its 2008 annual report.

....and in related news

NEW YORK: American major Kraft Foods raised the 2009 compensation of its CEO Irene Rosenfeld by over 40 per cent to USD 26.35 million and termed
her leadership in completing the Cadbury takeover as "exceptional".

So, keep the pension or take the deal? I would think that resorting to extortion would be considered "unfair or materially detrimental". I wonder if the British courts would be as sympathetic to Kraft as U.S. courts?

Does this keep up with promises? From Jan 19th.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday that his government was “determined that the levels of investment that take place in Cadbury in the United Kingdom are maintained,” and that “at a time when people are worried about their jobs, that jobs in Cadbury can be secure.”
During a conference call Tuesday, Kraft executives reiterated that the company would keep a strong presence in Britain and would be a “net importer” of jobs in the country.