food - terry's moves out
WORKERS, MAY 2004 ISSUE
The decision by Terry's of York, famed confectioner and chocolate maker for over 250 years, to abandon production in its home city of York, has brought swift opposition from the GMB, and has to be opposed throughout the country. The decision of the real owners, US Kraft Foods, associated with the Swiss Suchard Company, to stop production and flee abroad must be met with a consumer boycott.
The loss of 316 jobs in York is bad enough but the major market for Terry's products, which include the famed chocolate oranges and Terry's All Gold, is Britain. With Poland and Slovakia about to join the European Union as full members, Suchard is moving production there (and to Belgium) and will import back to Britain without having to pay duty.
If it's not good enough to make here then it's not good enough to be purchased here. Nothing other than cheap labour in Poland and Slovakia can explain Suchard's decision. And all those who welcome the expansion of the European Union should remember each lost British job and where it has been taken to.