Cadbury workers turned out in the pouring rain today to protest against “greedy bosses”.
There were represented by trade union Unite who had organised protests across all of Cadbury’s UK plants on the day the company announced yearly profits of £262 million.
The workers at the Bournville factory claim the company has failed to honour the final year of a three-year pay agreement.
Joe Clarke, from trade union Unite, said: “This is a classic case of fat cat bosses.
“The management are not behaving in a way that befits their fine reputation and the workforce are infuriated about their behaviour.
“Profits are up by 24 per cent on the back of 30 per cent profits last year and in spite of that they still cannot bring themselves to honour our pay agreement which has made a lot of people very angry.
“The workforce at Cadbury are hardworking, flexible and loyal but they feel that they have been badly let down by the company on this matter and want them to reconsider their position.”
The workers have been offered a half per cent increase but they claim they were offered a minimum of two.
However Tony Bilsborough, head of communications at Cadbury, disputed that figure.
He said: “It is a tough economic climate for everybody at the moment and lots of places are working with pay freezes and in this instance we have actually offered a pay rise and want it to be seen in that light.
“It is something we will have to discuss in-house but which we can assure the public will have little impact on the production of chocolate.”
