Mondelez

Kraft appears to be improvising their planned breakup into two separate corporate entities. The latest pre-split top management appointment raises new concerns about the future. But faced with the prospect of a union at their factory in Allentown, Pennsylvania, top corporate management lost no time to combat what they perceived as a mortal danger to the company. There's always something going on at Kraft.

Chief financial Officer David Brearton confirmed on February 21 that Kraft’s enormous debt would be put on the grocery division as Kraft takes a “clean sheet approach as we set up lean corporate structures”. They call this ‘migration’... The following day, Kraft notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission that CEO Rosenfeld took home nearly USD 22 million in 2011. Kraft may be running out of room to grow revenue through raising prices. And the company has a new name to propose for the internatinal snacks division. There's always something going on.

What does it all mean for workers? Read the latest Kraft Union Network bulletin here. Download, copy and distribute!

As preparations advance for the big split - North American grocery and global snacks - Kraft is still struggling to sort out revenue flow and intellectual property spoils between the two new companies, and will ultimately have to figure out where to stick the enormous debt that paid for the Cadbury acquisition. But the company is losing no time in cutting jobs.

The Belgian unions' fight to keep production of iconic chocolate brands in Belgium has resulted in an agreement to keep production of Chokotoff - one of the 3 brands slated for transfer - in the factory in Halle. In exchange, the unions and their members have agreed to some concessions in benefits.

The dispute with Kraft Foods over the company's intention to close their distribution center in Norcross (US state of Georgia) and shift work and jobs to a 3rd-party, non-union facility has been resolved to the satisfaction of the workers and their union, the BCTGM.

European Works Council meetings are normally placid affairs, an opportunity for corporate management to present delegates with carefully sifted information which allows them to claim workers have been "consulted".

There’s always something going on at Kraft Foods…“Scale”, “supply chain leverage” and marketing “synergies” were the rationale for the Cadbury deal. Synergy and scale yielded to “focus” on August 4 this year, when Kraft announced it would split the corporation into 2 independent publicly traded companies, both headquartered in North America.

What does it mean for Kraft workers? Click here to read the latest number of the Kraft Union Network.

Over 50 workers joined the protest at the Kraft bakery in Richmond, Virginia, on September 8.

In July, the Municipal Council of Halle passed a motion strongly condemning the proposed closure of the Halle chocolate factory.

A year and a half after the Cadbury acquisition, Kraft Foods will be split into two companies: a North American grocery business and an international snacks business.