Confectionery giant Cadbury is facing the threat of industrial action after 1,200 of its unionised employees voted to consider a strike ballot, the Unite union has said.

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The majority of workers represented by Unite have indicated that they are in favour of taking industrial action as part of an ongoing pay dispute, union officials claimed today (3 September).


According to the union, Cadbury had agreed a pay increase for workers at its Bournville, Chirk, Marlbrook and Somerdale plants of RPI plus 0.5%, with a minimum hike of 2% for 2009.


However, as RPI in February was 0% the company is instead imposing a deal of 0.5% this year, Unison said.


A spokesperson for Cadbury refuted the suggestion that it has broken its agreement with the union.

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“We have not reneged on any agreement. We had a three-year pay deal and in the the third year we said would pay 0.5% above the retail price index. As the RPI stood at 0%, pay has increased 0.5%.


“There was no minimum agreement and there was no agreement to renegotiate if RPI was below a certain level,” the spokesperson insisted. “We feel that this was fair as the rest of the company has had its pay frozen.”


A spokesperson for Unite told just-food that, were a strike to go ahead, supplies of popular chocolate products, including Wispa, Crunchie, Dairy Milk and Creme Egg, could be disrupted. However, Cadbury insisted that this would not be the case.


“We are confident that it will not affect supplies. If a strike were to go ahead it would not have an impact on the public or our customers,” the spokesperson said.