(Please note this article was written before the news broke that the Cadbury’s management have now accepted the bid from Kraft. However this has not changed the validity of the report and the message it contains)
One of the more insane consequences of capitalism and the private ownership of industry is the ease with which even stable and profitable companies can be taken over and destroyed by their sometimes debt-ridden rivals. Public limited companies (i.e. those floated on the stock-market) can be acquired even without the consent of the company’s management, if the buyer can persuade enough shareholders to sell up. Often, the buyer will take out huge loans to pay for the acquisition, and who will be asked to pay off these debts? Why, the workers, of course! Such acquisitions and takeovers are often accompanied by redundancies and attacks in conditions as the buyer attempts to digest its meal.
Kraft bid risks indigestion
This grizzly fate awaits workers at British confectionary giant Cadbury if its shareholders accept one of two rival bids: American transnational Kraft, or Italian-based Ferrero. Kraft’s bid, in particular, is worrying, since it is revealed by the union Unite n the Unite shareholder briefing document that its debts have skyrocketed to an estimated £22bn
Between 2004 and 2008 alone, Kraft shed 19,000 jobs and closed 35 sites to help pay off these debts. Unite also fears that Kraft could switch its production to its Illinois site, putting at risk 7,000 direct jobs and at least 20,000 more in the wider supply chain. As usual, the workers will suffer to enrich shareholders, directors and bankers.
Appealing to the bosses
Whilst the union has correctly criticised the way in which “[t]akeover policy is shrouded in secrecy and tilted towards profiteering, not the public interest, so much so that the interests of banks and far-off boardrooms come before those of loyal workers and communities”, but words are not enough. Threatening to repeat the mistakes of the Johnny Walker campaign, where Unite appealed to company bosses to’ consider the needs of the local community’ from ‘the good of their hearts’, the union has pleaded with Cadbury’s shareholders, arguing that “[w]hen it comes to Cadbury’s future, shareholders and workers share a common cause so we appeal to investors now, protect Cadbury as an independent company and kick Kraft’s bid into touch”.
The mistake that the trade union leaders, of Unite and other unions, have made is to believe it is possible to persuade capitalists to behave ‘nicely’ in the interests of the workers. Like trying to persuade a lion to care for a lamb, the results are likely to be, well, unfortunate. Capitalists are interested in one thing: profit. If that means selling shares to a higher bidder, so be it. If it means attacking working conditions to pay off debts, so be it. If it means shifting production to a cheaper country, so be it.
We must fight back
Holding out the begging bole to company bosses will not achieve anything – workers must fight for their jobs and conditions. The traditional slogan, ‘a factory closed is a factory occupied’, must come to the fore. If bosses, be they Cadbury, Kraft or Ferrero, try to attack conditions, lay people off or close sites, they must be met with escalating industrial action, illegal if anti –union laws make effective action illegal. Unite must support its members in this struggle, not hide behind backroom deals and anti-union laws.
In the end, however, this is a political question. Whilst workers’ livelihoods are prey to the machinations of profit-driven capitalists across two continents, our futures can never be secure. Whilst production is for profit, rather than for need, there will always be insecurity, poverty and unemployment. Whilst the ‘free’ market means only the rich are free to do as they please, the rest of us will bound to their whims.
Cadbury must be nationalised and placed under the control and management of the workers who staff its sites and supply-chains. This must be part of a socialist plan of production, where human need comes before profit. It’s a scandal that, after twelve years of a ‘Labour’ government, workers’ jobs are still threatened in this way. Unite is one of Labour’s biggest donors, giving millions of pounds to a party that stands by and does nothing whilst workers come under attack. Labour doesn’t deserve our money till it stands up and fights for workers’ rights! If Unite’s leadership does not have the courage to force Labour to represent the workers who elected it, it’s time we replaced them with leaders who do.
- No to hostile takeovers and shareholder machinations! Workers must not suffer to make the rich richer!
- Unite must fight to defend jobs and conditions, not plead for ‘mercy’ from the bosses!
- All threatened companies must be nationalised under workers’ control!
- The ‘Labour’ government must start to act in the interests of labour! Our unions must force Labour to adopt socialist policies!
