The petition to save the Dunedin Cadbury factory and the jobs of its workers has gone global.
A local petition/open letter has been circulating online since last Friday and has attracted more than 8000 signatures.
Another petition, launched by the International Food Union, which has joined the campaign to save the factory has attracted another 4000 signatures.
This petition, which includes a letter of protest to Mondelez International’s CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, details the loss of 9000 Cadbury workers worldwide last year.
It says: “The Dunedin factory with its well-known brands produces healthy sales. But for years,
Mondelez has vacuumed equity out of the plant by extracting ‘dividends’ which exceed the company’s net income.”
Chas Muir, E tū’s Industry Co-ordinator Food says the numbers signing show the solidarity for Cadbury workers both in New Zealand and globally.
“Mondelez is gaining international infamy for its behaviour, for stripping the guts out of Cadbury plants internationally and throwing their workers to the wolves, with no regard to them, their families and communities”, says Chas.
“It’s great to see the support in these numbers not only in New Zealand but across the world.”
He says E tū organisers and the union’s members at Cadbury would be at Saturday’s rally, organised by the local community and calling on Mondelez to save the factory.
George must be spinning in his grave . . . . . .
[from Wikipedia]: In 1893, George Cadbury bought 120 acres (0.5 km²) of land close to the works and planned, at his own expense, a model village which would ‘alleviate the evils of modern, more cramped living conditions’. By 1900, the estate included 313 cottages and houses set on 330 acres (1.3 km2) of land, and many more similar properties were built in the years leading up to the First World War, with smaller developments taking place later on in the 20th century. These almost ‘Arts and Crafts’ houses were traditional in design but with large gardens and modern interiors, and were designed by the resident architect William Alexander Harvey. . . . . .
The Cadburys were particularly concerned with the health and fitness of their workforce, incorporating park and recreation areas into the Bournville village plans and encouraging swimming, walking and indeed all forms of outdoor sports. In the early 1920s, extensive open lands were purchased at Rowheath and laid to football and hockey pitches together with a grassed running track. Rowheath Pavilion was designed and built in accordance with the instructions of George Cadbury and opened in July 1924. At that time, it served as the clubhouse and changing rooms for the acres of sports playing fields, several bowling greens, a fishing lake and an outdoor swimming lido, a natural mineral spring forming the source for the lido’s healthy waters.
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