The Toblerone owner leaves the room after only eleven minutes.

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It was arguably the shortest negotiation round of the year: just eleven minutes later, the delegation from global company Mondelez left the room at the Toblerone plant in Bern-Brünnen on Monday, according to the Unia union. The dream of a real wage increase for the entire workforce is melting away like a Toblerone in the sun.

The group refrains from further negotiations as it informs the factory workers’ representatives on the spot. In the actual third round of negotiations, they could only stare in amazement. “This shows how little value workers are to the group,” said Unia negotiator Johannes Supe.

Mondelez raises salaries retroactively from April

Mondelez sees no reason for further discussion. When asked by Blick, a media spokesperson for the US food company wrote, “Despite our best efforts, we unfortunately were unable to reach a consensus.” Considering various factors, the salaries of the employees at the Bern facility are now being increased retrospectively as of April 1, as is customary in the industry. Mondelez leaves open how high that will be.

However, the fact that the two camps’ locations were still too far apart may have probably contributed to the interruption of negotiations. Mondelez raised its individual pay raise offer to 1.8 percent for the last time on Monday. This is well below the 2.9 percent inflation rate in March. The employees of the Toblerone factory, on the other hand, demand six percent for everyone.

Workload increases, real wages fall

In doing so, they wanted to compensate for inflation and high health insurance premiums – and on top of that, they wanted a real pay rise for the higher burden. The chocolate they produce is in great demand. The factory is reaching its capacity limit and has recently switched to four-shift operation.

“The machines now work seven days a week,” factory worker Urs Brunner (52) recently told Blick. This has ramifications for employees: hardly any free weekends, constant shifts between early, late and night shifts. You can hardly plan your private life anymore. In addition, the health burden is high.

The Unia union is still demanding further negotiations and has already sent the international food company an invitation to a new round of negotiations.

Tough negotiations due to falling margins?

But the food company wants to cut its costs. Despite increased sales, net income fell by $1.6 billion last year. The margin fell from 14.97 percent to 8.63 percent. This is primarily due to inflation, which Mondelez was only partially able to pass on to selling prices.

The snack and confectionery company will also produce Toblerone products in 35 gram and 50 gram formats in Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital, from autumn. Due to the partial relocation of production abroad, the Matterhorn on the packaging has to be replaced by an imaginary mountain. This is unlikely to strengthen the negotiating position of the Swiss location. However, this seems safe for now: Mondelez is also expanding in Bern-Brünnen.

Source :Blick