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.

[SamIam]

Looks like the Easter Bunny has become the Easter grinch. I'm tired of hearing of executives dripping with obscene amounts of money while the rank and file go under. Off with her head, and I get the ears!

[DanaC]

The takeover was major news here. Cadbury's was a British institution, not just a company. Lot of people very unhappy at it leaving British hands.

From wiki:

In 1893, George Cadbury bought 120 acres (49 ha) of land close to the works and planned, at his own expense, a model village which would 'alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions'. By 1900 the estate included 313 cottages and houses set on 330 acres (130 ha) of land. As the Cadbury family were Quakers there were no pubs in the estate;[7] in fact, it was their Quaker beliefs that first led them to sell tea, coffee and cocoa as alternatives to alcohol.[8]

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by DanaC

The takeover was major news here. Cadbury's was a British institution, not just a company. Lot of people very unhappy at it leaving British hands.

I'll bet this latest maneuver isn't going to sit well either. Is there a labor relations board in Britain?

At this rate, US corporations will have a worse reputation for takeovers than the Yakuza.

[monster]

Cadbury's in Bourneville is where I used to take the sprogs to learn to swim, in the pool built for the workers all those years ago. Lovely old factory, gorgeous village, yummy chocolate.

US companies are not reknowned for their fair play in foreign takeovers. That's why we're here.

[Elspode]

I find it disturbing that the top two or three people in any major corporation are so indispensible, so inarguably necessary to the success or failure of the company, while apparently the rank and file are as interchangeable and disposable as a goddamn box of Kleenex.

Somehow it seems far more logical to me that thousands of skilled workers are a great deal more critical to the success of a given firm than a single suit.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Somehow it seems far more logical to me that thousands of skilled workers are a great deal more critical to the success of a given firm than a single suit.

Hence unions. Do I think some unions have gone too far? Yes. Do I think that CEO greed and arrogance have far outstripped anything that any union has ever attempted? Oh yes.

[be-bop]

There are a glut of companies in the UK and elsewhere using the credit crunch or whatever they are calling the slowdown this week to have a major review of workers terms and conditions,pay and pension rights.
The government of the UK hands are dirty in this respect also as public sector jobs, terms and conditions are being squeezed.
That's why it's becoming back to the 70's and 80's over here as there are strikes and disputes every week as workers are getting to point of saying enough is enough.
The Labour Government never seem to learn from history as they seem to want to fight the public sector once again which the last time got them kicked out of power and the witch Thatcher was in power for 18 years.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by richlevy

Hence unions. Do I think some unions have gone too far? Yes. Do I think that CEO greed and arrogance have far outstripped anything that any union has ever attempted? Oh yes.

Now here is an example of some of that common sense I said elsewhere I was looking for from Rich.

[classicman]

Sorta reminds me of what happened to Budweiser.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Elspode

I find it disturbing that the top two or three people in any major corporation are so indispensible, so inarguably necessary to the success or failure of the company, while apparently the rank and file are as interchangeable and disposable as a goddamn box of Kleenex.

Somehow it seems far more logical to me that thousands of skilled workers are a great deal more critical to the success of a given firm than a single suit.

I think the issue is that a bunch of CEO's sit on each others' board of directors, and they keep helping each other out.

[squirell nutkin]

Originally Posted by monster

:
US companies are not reknowned for their fair play in foreign takeovers. That's why we're here.

Hold on a tic, we thought you were huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Next, I suppose you'll try to convince us you were not wretched refuse teeming on your shore.

[Happy Monkey]

No, we take everyone else's huddled masses of wretched refuse and milk them for cheap labor. And every once in a while, one of them starts a multinational company and takes away your pensions.

[Elspode]

Well, let's see. It's all about the money, and the money has to come from *somewhere*. Now, where shall it come from. Other rich people...noooo. That would be wrong. Oh, look! A bunch of middle class, blue collar, working stiffs who were foolish enough to think they would actually *have* something when they retire! Sorry, working stiffs. Daddy needs a new mcmansion in a gated community on the coast of Florida, a vacation home in Switzerland, and exotic cars and boats at both of them.

[squirell nutkin]

Els, you left out "Chump." at the end.