Kraft closes factory, jobs go to China
Just another example of American and Australian jobs being stolen and sent to communist china! The plant in Hoover Alabama is also being shut down! Chinese Oreos!
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Kra ... 36150.html
Kraft closes factory, jobs go to China
January 11, 2006 - 7:14PM
China has bitten off another section of Australia'smanufacturing industry as Kraft Foods announced it is closing one of itstwo Melbourne factories, making 151 workers redundant.
The food giant said in a statement on Wednesday it was closing itsBroadmeadows biscuit plant because "manufacturing costs remain too high forthe facility to remain sustainable within the highly competitive biscuitscategory".
But union leaders representing workers at the factory slammed the companyfor not reinvesting in the country - Australia - that bought its productsand supplied its profits.
The multinational will shift production of its dry biscuit brands to "aregional facility in China" while distribution within Australia will becontracted to a "third party logistics provider", it said.
The company has promised it will pay its workers all entitlements as wellas a redundancy package and provide "career transition" support.
Jane Farrell, assistant branch secretary of the Liquor Hospitality andMiscellaneous Union which covers production workers at the plant, saidKraft should have warned workers and made redundancy preparations wellbefore Wednesday's snap announcement.
The food giant had taken over local biscuit manufacturer Lanes whichpreviously owned the Broadmeadows operation.
But 12 months ago it began building a biscuit factory in China to replaceits Melbourne operation, she said.
"A very wealthy, large multi-national moves in, takes over in recent yearsand guts the place and puts everyone on the dole queue," she said.
"It's about recognising the contributions those workers make to the successof that company and the profits of that company and the pay packets ofthose bosses.
"The only reason it's cheaper to make it in China is they don't pay awardor minimum standards, there's poorer health and safety.
"We've got grave concerns about what conditions those people in China workunder."
Maintenance workers at the Broadmeadows factory are represented by theAustralian Manufacturing Workers Union. Its state president, ChrisSpindler, accused Kraft of abandoning its responsibility to "reinvest inthe society that buys their products".
"If we just fall into the argument of saying `Well, labour is cheaper inChina than Australia' well, we might as well pack up everything now," hesaid.
Instead governments - both state and federal - should show more support forthe manufacturing sector by investing in research, development andinfrastructure, just as the Chinese government did, he said.
Victoria's Acting Premier John Thwaites said his government would help theretrenched workers look for other manufacturing jobs in the area. :evil: :evil:
Heres the one about Hoover plant closing
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/13761660.htm
Posted on Wed, Feb. 01, 2006
Kraft stock falls on news more cuts are planned
The giant food company's earnings beat expectations, but shares fall 56
cents.
The Associated Press
CHICAGO - Shares of Kraft Foods Inc., the nation's biggest food company,
fell more than 3 percent Tuesday after disclosing plans to broaden the
cost-cutting effort it launched two years ago to boost profits.
The maker of Oreo cookies and DiGiorno pizza announced after the markets
closed on Monday a three-year plan to slash an additional 8,000 jobs, or 8
percent of its workers, and close 20 production plants worldwide.
The announcement came even as Kraft reported fourth quarter financial
results that surpassed Wall Street's expectations.
But in trading on Tuesday, Kraft shares fell 56 cents to close at $29.44 in
trading on the New York Stock Exchange, closer to the lower end of their
52-week range of $27.44 to $34.30.
Kraft is in the midst of a three-year cost-cutting program begun in early
2004 that has laid off 5,500 workers and shuttered 19 plants. The latest
moves would result in a total of about 13,500 layoffs and nearly 40 closed
facilities by the end of 2008.
Kraft said it would trim its product line by another 10 percent, atop a 20
percent cut since 2004. The company said it intends to shut plants in
Broadmeadows, Victoria in Australia and Hoover, Ala., but did not announce
the other facilities it plans to close.
A spokesman said Tuesday that it was too soon to say if there would be any
effect on the company's service center in the Hanover Industrial Estates.
More than 300 people work there, providing customer service, online sales
and financial services.
When complete, Kraft said the cuts should save $700 million annually,
bringing its total savings to $1.15 billion.
"Further cost reduction is a necessity in the current environment," Chief
Financial Officer Jim Dollive told analysts during a conference call.
Kraft is 86 percent owned by Altria Group Inc., the parent of tobacco
company Philip Morris. Altria has repeatedly stated it plans to spin off
Kraft once it settles outstanding litigation hanging over the tobacco
business.
Investors are still awaiting word on when Altria will split up its
businesses. But the company must first clear one high hurdle - the
appellate review of the $145 billion Engle tobacco liability case in
Florida. That state's Supreme Court is reviewing the punitive award in
the case that was overturned on appeal.