ON SUNDAY Solidarity reported on the announcement that Cadbury – described by many as a ‘British institution’ – could by taken over by the American multinational, Kraft Foods.

We noted that thousands of workers in the UK and Ireland now face an uncertain future as Kraft plans a $675 million cost-saving plan.  The proposed takeover deal had already raised fears of job cuts at major sites like Bournville, Birmingham and Somerdale, near Bristol.

Since then workers at the Cadbury factory in Bournville have staged a protest aimed at safeguarding jobs.  They are also demanding that Kraft must give assurances that the interests of the workforce will not be swept aside and that the quality of products will be safeguarded.

Some workers have been at Cadbury’s for years.  Whole families have been employed there.  Many say that there’s almost a ‘community feel’ to the Bournville plant.

However, none of this will matter to those investors who’ll vote on the future of Cadbury.  As we noted in our previous article, these investors “only have their own interests at heart.” 

At the moment no one can guess what way the vote will go.  However, the board of Cadbury's have recommend the £12bn deal.  Additionally, more than a quarter of Cadbury shares are now in the hands of hedge funds, which bought them in the hope of a deal.

If the takeover does go ahead, workers will have to deal with the Chief Executive of Kraft Foods, Mrs. Irene Rosenfeld (pictured).  She is described as ‘a fearsome achiever in business.’  Last year she earned a cool £10.5million.  She lives in Kenilworth, the most-affluent suburb of Chicago and enjoys the use of a private company jet.

The future is looking increasingly ominous for Cadbury’s.  We’re sure that Mrs. Rosenfeld will not be interested in the ‘community feel’ at Bournville.  Her brief will be to cut costs and turn in a tasty profit for Kraft.

We’ll not be too surprised to hear of redundancies in the near future.  As we noted in our article Cadbury takeover, Cadbury chairman Roger Carr has already admitted that job cuts at the 186-year-old chocolate maker are an "inevitability". 

Commenting on the proposed take-over, Solidarity General Secretary Patrick Harrington noted:

“This is the brutal side of capitalism - no bailouts or bonuses like the bankrupt fat cats but bare minimum pay outs and the dole.  Capitalism is bad in all its forms.  It doesn’t matter if it’s ‘national’ capitalism or ‘international’ capitalism – the result is the same. 

In this instance, workers can fight back in two ways.  In the short-term, they will have to oppose any plans by Kraft to throw them on the scrap heap. 

In the long-term, they will have to demand - and work towards - a just and fairer social and economic system.”