Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory: Claremont workers stop work in bid for better pay from Mondelez

Workers at the famous Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory at Claremont are battling for better pay and conditions, resorting to take industrial action as they ramp up their fight.

Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory at Claremont. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Workers at Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory are taking industrial action against their employer in a bid to secure better pay and conditions, stopping work for a total of about four hours a fortnight.

There are 430 employees at the Claremont factory, with 386 covered under the enterprise agreement currently up for negotiation.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Tasmanian state secretary John Short said the workforce had resoundingly rejected the latest offer from Mondelez, the company that owns Cadbury.

“Obviously the workers are after a decent pay rise. They’re after an increase in income protection … and also they’re after some changes to the casual and [temporary worker] clause,” Mr Short said.

AMWU State Secretary John Short at Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory.

“Many workers have been there for years as a casual or a temp on temp contracts. And the workers have just had enough of the company trying to keep people on casual and temp contracts. Those workers, in a lot of respects, are working as permanent workers. But the company is just not recognising that.”

Mr Short said employees had been implementing “a series of short [work] stoppages” for the last three months to send a message to Mondelez that the current offer of a 13 per cent pay rise over three years was not considered good enough.

He said workers wanted 5 per cent pay rises in each of the three years of the new agreement.

“These workers were seen as essential workers, worked all the way through Covid, kept the company’s profits up,” Mr Short said.

“The company are getting massive profits, especially through that period.

“And a lot of workers were having to use their own sick leave even if they hadn’t got Covid themselves, if there was Covid in the family or in the house. They were expected to take time off. So they were using their own sick leave to protect the company’s profit margins.”

Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory at Claremont. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Mr Short said cost of living pressures meant that Cadbury workers needed a “decent pay rise to make ends meet”.

A Mondelez spokesperson said the industrial action had had “no impact on the manufacture and supply of our chocolate”.

“We are confident we will reach an agreement that provides our team with strong wage growth and benefits, while also ensuring manufacturing in Tasmania remains competitive and sustainable,” the spokesperson said.

“Last year we celebrated a century making chocolate in the state and remain committed to supporting Tasmanian jobs, primary producers and communities.”