Union denies confidence breach

THE union representing Cadbury workers has denied revealing confidential information about the Dunedin factory.

Yesterday, Mondelez said a leaflet distributed by E tu at the rally on Saturday revealed that most of the $80 million invested in the factory in the past decade was spent by the previous owner.

Of $80 million invested in the Dunedin factory in that time, only $8 million was from 2010 onwards, the leaflet says.

‘‘Kraft did not purchase Cadbury until 2010 and Mondelez did not exist until 2012. Therefore, Mondelez’s claim that it has invested $80 million in the factory is a big stretch.’’

The leaflet, which mostly details Mondelez’s international performance, says the company had told E tu that a portion of the Dunedin factory’s machinery was so old it would be sent for scrap. E tu industry strategy director Neville Donaldson said information in the leaflet was not new, and reflected research compiled by the International Union of Food.

The information had not been sourced from the consultation process under way between E tu and Mondelez, he said.

‘‘It surprises me, actually, because it’s got very little relevance to the issue.

‘‘I’m really struggling to understand what their problem is, and I think they’re just struggling to hook into an issue to try to make themselves look credible.

‘‘We’ve got way more things to be concerned about, like their refusal to give us genuine information to be able to come up with alternative proposals,’’ Mr Donaldson said.

The Otago Daily Times had sought comment from Mondelez on Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull’s rally speech, but emailed responses from the company criticised the union.

‘‘The timing of when [capital expenditure] was spent is not publicly available.

‘‘The brochure handed out included information that has been shared during consultation.

‘‘The union has shared information that we agreed would be confidential.

‘‘While we continue to ensure that we respect the agreement we have with the union for consultation information to remain confidential, we’re disappointed that the union has not respected this with the information it has shared [at the rally].’’ a Mondelez spokeswoman told the ODT.

Mr Cull had criticised the multinational for refusing to engage with the city council over the factory closure proposal. It cited the need to complete the formal consultation with workers, Mr Cull said.

In response, Mondelez said the company would ‘‘absolutely’’ work with the council but only after it completed the consultation.