{"id":3449,"date":"2015-03-25T17:13:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T17:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3449"},"modified":"2015-03-25T17:13:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T17:13:38","slug":"merger-is-a-bolt-from-the-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3449","title":{"rendered":"Merger is a bolt from the blue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reassurances about future UK job security are being sought by Unite, following today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (March 25) announcement that US food giant Heinz is to merge with Kraft Foods Group.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Unite national officer for the food sector Julia Long said that in addition to discussing job security, the union also wants to know the combined company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future business plan for its sites in the UK.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe and our trade union colleagues in the food industry around the world know from experience that deals like this often involve job losses and ruthless cost-cutting, as global capital wants a quick return on its investment,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Long.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNews of this merger is a bolt from the blue for our members at Heinz,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey deserve better, and we will be fighting for a better deal for them.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact that shareholders have been hosed down with cash, while workers seem to have been kept in the dark is concerning.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe sincerely hope that this is not the shape of things to come. These companies have worked with unions to build their prosperity in the past and need to do so in this new entity too.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Unite has more than 1,000 members at the Heinz site at Kitt Green, Wigan, which is Europe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest food factory, manufacturing over one billion cans of beans, soup and other products each year.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Unite has just under a total of 1,300 Heinz members across UK and the Republic of Ireland out of a total Heinz workforce of 2,500.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Unite also has members at other Heinz sites, including in Hayes, Kendal, Leamington Spa, Luton, Norfolk and Telford, as well as Dundalk in the Irish Republic.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In 2010, Kraft Foods bought Cadbury and two years later Kraft Foods \u00e2\u20ac\u0098spun off\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 the North American grocery side to become Kraft Foods Group. The remainder became Mondelez International – Cadbury’s parent company \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is not affected by this deal.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The deal, which is set to create the third-largest food company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, was masterminded by Heinz’s owners, the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital and billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Both companies’ boards have unanimously approved the deal, however it still requires approval from Kraft shareholders.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reassurances about future UK job security are being sought by Unite, following today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (March 25) announcement that US food giant Heinz is to merge with Kraft Foods Group. \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 Unite national officer for the food sector Julia Long said that in addition to discussing job security, the union also wants to know the combined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[122],"wps_subtitle":"Unite seeks urgent meeting over UK job security following Heinz-Kraft merger","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3451,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449\/revisions\/3451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}