Not in My Name: Cadbury’s

under threat.

Sad news today that Cadbury’s looks set to be taken over, following a barrage of hostile bids, from Kraft – that American purveyor of utterly disgusting “cheese.” I am gutted. As a Brummie, I am all too aware of the 186-year history of Cadbury’s. On stacks of school trips to the factory and village in Bourneville we learnt all about how John Quaker set up his business so that it would be a “factory in a garden”. We were taught about the ethos behind the company and how employees were encouraged to stay healthy, gain education and grown their own vegetables. To this day, the Quaker roots are visible as there are no pubs in Bourneville and around 80% of the current employees have or are currently volunteering for charities and community projects – staff are allowed time off to organise fundraising events. It is a lovely place and a company with proud traditions, staff and customers.
 Another in a long list of foreign takeovers (set against a paltry number of British acquisitions) the £12bn offer from Kraft will threaten Cadbury’s 6,000 people employed in the UK and is the end of another British company with incredible heritage. When Kraft bought another confectionary company -Terry’s in York – promises were made about job security that were will o’ the wisp. The factory was closed and jobs lost to Eastern Europe.  What assurances can Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson really give us that this won’t happen again.  On a flippant note they better not mess in any way with mini-eggs but seriously, it’s a sad day indeed