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80 jobs axed at Hobart Cadbury factory

Mondelez
International has continued cost-cutting, with news this morning that it would
be shedding 20 per cent of the jobs at Claremont’s Cadbury factory.

The
ABC reports that workers were told at the beginning of their shift 80 jobs were
to be cut at the site, which in March withdrew a grant application worth $16 million for its visitor’s centre.

“In March this year we announced
a $20m investment in the Claremont site for this year as the start of a journey
to make Claremont more efficient and therefore sustainable,” Mondelez’s
local managing director Amanda Banfield said in a statement.

“As a result around 80 roles
will no longer be required; however we’re confident the majority of these will
be attained via temporary contract conclusions and voluntary
redundancies.”

The
AMWU said the $16 million grant application should be re-invested into Tasmania’s manufacturing sector.

“As we see major job losses all over Tasmania, we’re seeing the
State and Federal Governments just shrugging their shoulders. It’s not good
enough,” said the union’s state secretary, John Short, who added that the
factory had been operating for 90 years.

“Some of the people at
Cadbury — their parents and their grandparents worked here. But where are their
kids going to work?” he told the ABC.

Independent
Denison MP Andrew Wilkie said that the job losses would be hard on the Hobart
area.

“This is 20 per cent of the chocolate factory’s
staff, many of whom live in the Glenorchy city area which already has one of
the highest unemployment rates in the state,” he told The Mercury.

The
company has blamed a decline in sales for recent cuts.

Mondelez
announced a 3 per cent decline in revenue for the year to December earlier this
month.

However, net profits were up 43 per cent, following cost reductions such as a 60 per cent decline in R&D spending, 186
redundancies and a size reduction in its Freddo Frog and Cadbury family-sized
chocolate blocks. It also booked a $30 million tax credit.

Image: https://www.themercury.com.au/

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