LONDON (AP) — Britain's leading union said it remained concerned about potential large scale job losses at candy maker Cadbury PLC if it is taken over by Kraft Foods Inc. after the U.S. company failed to make firm commitments on local production in talks Wednesday.
The Unite union, Britain's biggest trade union with some 2 million members, wants a guarantee that Kraft will not transfer production facilities out of Britain if it succeeds in its 9.8 billion pound ($16.4 billion) hostile takeover bid.
Jenny Formby, Unite's national officer for the food sector, said that Kraft "couldn't give us the guarantees we were seeking today," after a meeting with Kraft's European management team.
Formby said that the U.S. company repeated its earlier statement that it intended to keep production of chocolate at Cadbury's Somerdale factory in the central English city of Bristol.
Keeping the factory open would reverse a decision by Cadbury itself to transfer production of chocolate at the plant to Poland with the loss of 500 jobs.
But unions have pushed for a cast iron guarantee, questioning Kraft's commitment to British production after its decision to shut its Terry's Chocolate Orange factory in York, northern England, four years ago, transferring production to eastern Europe.
"Until they can put some meat on the bones of their plans it is too early for us to be happy that jobs will be safe," Formby said.
"Our demands — around the sites, jobs, pensions and pay of Cadbury workers in both Britain and Ireland — are very reasonable and in our view certainly deliverable," she added.
Kraft, the maker of Oreo cookies, Nabisco crackers and its namesake cheese, launched its renewed cash-and-stock approach earlier this month. The bid values Cadbury at 722 pence per share.
The stock has since risen well above that price—it was trading at 809 pence, up 0.1 percent on Wednesday—on speculation that a rival bidder will emerge.
U.S. chocolate company The Hershey Co. and Italy's Ferrero International SA have said they are also considering a possible offer for Cadbury, while analysts have speculated that another rival, Switzerland's Nestle SA, may make a takeover bid.
The prospect of Cadbury losing its independence has caused some consternation in Britain, where the 195-year-old company is a much-loved brand—its Dairy Milk is the country's top-selling chocolate bar.
Unite's Formby said that union will put its minimum demands "to every bidder for Cadbury that emerges."
