A venture run by Australian sugar processors Bundaberg Sugar and Maryborough Sugar Factory is to close a mill in northern Queensland. The Northern Milling Joint Venture, owned by Bundaberg and Maryborough, yesterday (8 February) announced plans to close its Babinda mill. The company said it will transfer operations to its Mulgrave and South Johnstone mills and that it would identify opportunities to “redeploy” as many of the 62 employees at the site “as practicable”. It added... ...Read more »

Unite, the leading union in the food industry, overnight advised that it is growing increasingly concerned that US-based manufacturer Kraft will pay for its bid for Cadbury with extensive job losses in the UK and Ireland. The fears are set out in a letter to Kraft’s chief executive, Irene Rosenfeld, and follow a recent meeting between the union and the company. With analysts predicting that Kraft will be seeking to generate up to $1 billion in savings through mass redundancies and restructuring,... ...Read more »

UK union bosses representing workers at Cadbury have held “constructive” talks with US food giant Kraft Foods today (25 November) following the company’s hostile takeover bid for the Dairy Milk maker. Unite, one of the UK’s largest unions, met with executives from Kraft in a bid to gain assurances over jobs, pensions and working conditions for staff should the company be successful in its GBP9.8bn (A$17.6bn) bid for Cadbury. Jennie Formby, Unite’s national officer for... ...Read more »