Early release of Cadbury staff, honouring of redundancy urged

Dunedin MPs are calling for Mondelez to release Cadbury staff early and still honour their redundancy.

Production at the plant will wind down from November, and the plant will close in March next year.

David Clark

Workers anxious to secure another job as soon as possible might have to choose between their redundancy entitlement or a new job.

Dunedin South MP Clare Curran, Dunedin North MP David Clark and Dunedin list MP Michael Woodhouse all told the Otago Daily Times  that Mondelez must be flexible. 

Ms Curran said she raised early redundancy directly with Mondelez, and also asked about possible compensation for the seasonal workers who come back year after year but are not entitled to any redundancy. Mr Woodhouse said workers should be free to find other opportunities without losing out  financially.

"I signalled in my first meeting with Mondelez that when they had pointed out to me that there were generous compensation packages on the table that they not be compromised by staff finding opportunities for other employment earlier than the closure of the factory," Mr Woodhouse said.

Dr Clark said Mondelez had promised to treat the workers with respect.

"They have spoken in fine prose about their desire to do well by this workforce and the proof will be in the pudding on that," Dr Clark said.

Mondelez Australia and New Zealand managing director Amanda Banfield said Mondelez would look at redundancies on a case-by-case basis, but it needed to keep the factory operational for the final 12 months.

Etu food strategic director Neville Donaldson said the union was negotiating with the company  on  redundancy timing and flexibility for things like retraining.

Mr Donaldson said Mondelez was in an unusual position, as it could call on its seasonal staff to fill gaps.  He said it was also unfair that workers paid tax on redundancy payments.

Kraft bought the factory in 2010 as part of an £11.9 billion  takeover of the global Cadbury group, of which the New Zealand assets were worth  about  $200 million.

Kraft later spun out its global snacks business and renamed it Mondelez. In the first year of owning it, Mondelez injected about $80 million of new capital into the New Zealand entity.

Since buying the Cadbury business, Mondelez’s New Zealand operations have become closer to the global group, with 30% of its sales in 2015 going to related parties, up from just 21% in 2011.

However, it has not been unprofitable for the group. Financial statements filed to the Companies Office show Mondelez New Zealand Investments shipped back $105 million of dividends between 2011 and 2015 on profits of just $39.8 million, and a related party loan of $120 million has accrued more than $40 million of interest payments through that period.

The New Zealand holding company has also paid its parent royalties totalling $47.4 million and service fees and marketing rebates totalling $37.2 million.

- Additional reporting: New Zealand Herald