Chocolate move concern: CEN 12.14.07 p 4.

Moving British jobs overseas “flies in the face” of the Christian principles of the founders of Cadbury Schweppes, the Bishop of Bath and Wells said on Monday.

Bishop Peter Price has joined union leaders and local politicians in protesting plans to close the chocolate factory in Keynsham and move its operations to Poland.

“Decisions made on the basis of seeing human beings simply as units of production is destructive to the human condition, and flies in the face of the Quaker principles of the founders of the Cadbury Schweppes empire,” Dr. Price said.

“I believe that the destruction of the fabric of community life is inevitable once a significant employer closes a factory such as Somerdale. I have expressed my opposition to this closure in the strongest possible terms.”

On Dec 8, workers staged a protest march through Keynsham, angered by plans to phase out production of Crunchie, Fudge and Turkish Delight at the factory by 2010.

Cadbury and the Unite union are in talks over future plans. However, union organizer Brian Revell charged the decision to shift production overseas was “driven by short-term profit gain.

“Not only is it environmentally-unsound and commercially questionable, but it will devastate the local community,” he told Saturday’s rally.

Local Labour MP Dan Norris released a statement saying “nobody should consider throwing in the towel while a glimmer of hope remains. I’ve pledged to fight hard to reverse the closure decision.”

However, “those made redundant stand an excellent chance of finding high quality jobs elsewhere. Sadly, while a strong economy can never stop companies making redundancies in a competitive global market, a strong economy does give people the best possible chance of finding new work,” he said.