Letter to Employment Minister
LETTER TO EMPLOYMENT MINISTER
26th March 2009 (Employment Minister)
Dear Mr. McNulty (Rt Hon Jim Knight)
As you are aware Cadburys made the announcement on 3rd October 2007 (pre recession) of the closure of the profitable Somerdale, Keynsham, Bristol factory relocating production to Poland.
Chocolate making began in 1728 in Bristol, England and moved location to Keynsham, Bristol almost 90 years ago.
Being a productive and most profitable factory the Somerdale employees are devastated at their abandonment. They are a highly skilled and loyal workforce with high working values.
The closure of Somerdale will be hugely damaging, not only to its direct workforce and the hundreds of temporary workers employed each year, but for many hundreds of others, British Dairy farmers (for milk), the British sugar farmers and an ever increasing number of indirect jobs.
The British public are being told that you, as Employment Minister, are doing all you can to keep British unemployment to the minimum as businesses cry out for help to stop them having to add their employees to the dole queue.
Cadburys acquired huge financial support from the Polish government and secured, through the E.U, vast amounts of money for the building of the infrastructure to bring all Cadburys chocolate relocated for production in Poland back to the Mother land.
98% of all chocolate produced at the Somerdale factory is sold to, and consumed by, the British public.
Cadburys have made just short of £600million pre tax profits, up 30% from last year, adding to the frustration and anger of the Somerdale employees with the knowledge that the Somerdale factory has helped Cadburys to make these healthy profits.
To add insult to injury the employees have now been informed that the Polish Foreign and Investment Agency have given an award to Cadburys for being their biggest investor in 2008.
The Governments support for manufacturing, reinforced by its Manufacturing Strategy (8th September 2008) means it is in a position to help support employment skills, modern technology and a low carbon economy with (Somerdale) Cadburys. There is no ‘global value chain' as such, meaning Cadburys have no reason to rely on other countries for the chocolate bars to be partly made abroad to be finished off in Great Britain, as the complete procedure from start to finish is successfully accomplished at source (complete manufacturing process).
Manufacturing in the continued production of chocolate, at its finest, could be encouraged with the support and loyalty from Government at Somerdale in the form of a ‘New Build'. This would enable Somerdale to be more highly efficient, keep varied direct manufacturing employment, also encouraging heightened skill levels. This would enable them to continue to maintain and grow their valued place with investment in Great Britain, helping to boost the British economy and Cadburys production and profits with a state of the art, low carbon factory.
These are desperate times which need the highest and most positive actions from Government to ensure continued British employment in profitable businesses for long term investment.
Cadburys have proved themselves to be most profitable (formerly Fry's) for 281 years and are not only highly valued at national level but are a huge asset to the local community.
The closure of Somerdale will lose the local economy £26million. To not help Cadburys Somerdale employment to remain here and to not give them Government support that is available will make Great Britain huge economic losers.
Cadbury deserves the best support from the country of its birth, and the employees deserve the best having given generations of loyalty and by making it the hugely successful industry it is today.
The Somerdale employees have mastered to a fine art the changing of manufacturing through the ages and certainly deserve the chance to continue to be employed by Cadburys so they can continue to excel. With forward thinking and support for this profitable and economically sound factory from the Government, the continued and highly advanced chocolate making industry could be the envy of nations.
The Somerdale employees now have a saying about Cadbury chocolate making, "The British public is good enough to eat it, but we are no longer good enough to produce it."
I hope you will read this letter with the seriousness in which it has been written and that you will consider the positive Government assistance available to maintain chocolate manufacturing at Somerdale for the prosperity of Cadburys, its employees and Great Britain.
Thanking you for your time,
I look forward to your reply,
