Click photo to enlarge
Workers leave the Cadbury factory in Dunedin after a
meeting over future job cuts. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Major city employer Cadbury has confirmed 145 job losses are
proposed at its Dunedin plant.
But the confectionery giant says it will invest up to $51
million in Dunedin during the next two and a half years.
Amid mounting speculation around the city today, with
management and staff meetings being called, Cadbury announced
at 3.30pm a $A135 million ($NZ166 million) investment package
for the Dunedin site and two in Australia.
There will be $51 million being invested in Dunedin, at a
cost of 145 jobs, $61 million at Claremont in Tasmania at a
cost of 160 jobs and $22 million at Ringwood in Victoria at a
cost of 25 jobs.
Cadbury's spokesman Daniel Ellis said from Melbourne
yesterday that the proposal to make the New Zealand staff
redundant would move into a three to four week consultation
stage and a final decision was likely by mid to
late-September.
In November 2006, Cadbury announced a $20 million investment
in its Dunedin plant, to deliver a 200% increase in
production of its chocolate crumb ingredient.
The Government contributed $2 million of the $20 million for
a separate crumb research and development centre at the
Dunedin plant.
Potential for change was first signalled in March 2007 when a
second worldwide restructuring plan for Cadbury Schweppes,
the worlds largest confectionery group, was announced, with
the intention to cut 15% of its 50,000-strong global
workforce over four years, but no changes for Dunedin were
aired at the time.
Service and Food Workers Union southern region secretary
Campbell Duignan said while staff were aware of such
proposals, today's announcement was a shock.
"We had been led to believe there would essentially be a
product line by product line assessment process made," he
told NZPA.
"So we envisaged it would be a process that happened over
time, but what they have clearly done is gone away and had a
look at the whole operation and made some decisions about
simply specialising production out of particular factories.
"Essentially, that's what they have announced today with the
associated job loss on the one hand and capital investment on
the other."
He said while staff were stunned, there appeared to be some
acceptance, and it was positive that money was being invested
in the plant.
"We're just upset that it's at the cost of so many jobs."
Mr Duignan said there was also cold comfort that the lay-offs
would not be enacted for a few more months.
"In pretty poor circumstances it could certainly be worse,"
Mr Duignan said.
He said the union would now liaise with counterparts in
Australia and work to try to minimise losses and the impact
of losses.
Cadbury Schweppes managing director for confectionary in
Australia and New Zealand, Mark Callaghan, said the changes
were needed now in order to be able to remain competitive.
"When implemented, these changes would reduce complexity,
remove duplication and improve 
capacity, allowing us to be more
innovative and responsive to consumer needs," he said.
Mr Callaghan said the company realised the difficulties
placed on the affected staff and would provide career
planning and support services. - with NZPA
Cadbury cutbacks
Agree with Pengo. Cadbury, in yet another choreographed announcement, show yet again that skills and experience count for nothing as the masters in the UK squeeze the workforce even more for the benefit of shareholders. Gagging the staff under threat of losing their jobs ? Is this the same company that looks after and respects its workers ? Sure doesn't sound like it. And the comments from the spin doctors in Australia ( apparently there are no senior staff in Dunedin capable of making same ) regarding the future should be regarded with a good deal of suspicion. The Dunedin factory has produced a variety of enrobed bars for years and now apparently will be concentrating on assortments ? How exciting. Our NZ chocolate has always been better than the Australians, it's made differently, and the recent research on NZ taste preferences might just come back to bite them in the proverbial. Will be interesting to see how all this impacts on other things like the factory tours and Cadbury World in general.
Watch this space. It ain't over yet folks.
Bitter chocolate
This is a loss all New Zealanders should mourn.
There's been a Cadbury factory in Dunedin since the nineteenth century. Over the decades the company has morphed from Cadbury Fry (chocolate and chocolate) to Cadbury Fry Hudson (chocolate, chocolate and biscuits) to Cadbury Schweppes Hudson (chocolate, soft drinks and biscuits) to eventually part from the Hudson name in the nineteen eighties, focusing solely on chocolate and confectionery. Today it's part of a multi-national conglomerate, a link in a corporate supply chain that will see all chocolate products manufactured in Australia from chocolate crumb made ... in Dunedin.
Dunedin, you see, has a cool dry climate perfect for making cocoa mass - that's the only reason the factory is being retained by the corporate coffee bean counters. The skills and experience built up over the years? They don't matter. The Cadbury chocolate products on sale in New Zealand in two year's time will be mass produced in an even bigger and more impersonal process in Australia.
I'm from the south. Dunedin and the years I spent there have a special place in my heart. I never open a Cadbury chocolate bar without thinking about that connection, remembering the Cumberland Street factory which I first visited when they were still making biscuits there. I've always bought Cadbury products out of loyalty, although that's become harder over recent years.
The problem is, I don't personally like Cadbury chocolate all that much. Even their dark chocolate is sweeter than my ideal, and some supermarket chains here in Wellington appear to only stock Cadbury milk chocolate products, which has made for difficult choices at times. I suppose the selfish plus side of this news is that I'll no longer be conflicted in those situations. My loyalty, it seems, has the firmness of a chocolate bar left in a car on a hot day.
I have good memories though: the bags of broken biscuits brought home by Cadbury staff; my daughter's wide eyes when we took her through the factory as a toddler; the smell in my central Dunedin office when the wind was from the east.
Thanks for the memories. It's sad that, soon, that's all there'll be.
Cadbury job cuts
But oh no... build the stadium. Yeah right!
Syd Brown's assurances
Where are the new businesses that Cr Brown said were coming to Dunedin?
He wouldn't name them back in April and he's not likely to now.
Dunedin is in a right mess with more and more industries announcing job cuts. Will there be any work left for the people?
A huge rates bill seems to be the only thing they can be assured of.