North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin has defended comments he made during a radio interview in which he labelled workers at Cadbury’s Marlbrook plant, near Leominster, as “whingers”.
Mr Wiggin’s comments attracted a wave of criticism from union members at the factory which, along with the rest of the Cadbury empire, has been sold to US food giants Kraft.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Wiggin said the workers’ protestations were “negative”.
He said: “I worry that by sending out such negative signals it puts people’s jobs more at risk.
“No-one wants to hire a whinging workforce when you could have a positive upbeat one.”
The Unite union convener at Marlbrook, Dave Glasper, said that members had felt let down by Mr Wiggin’s comments.
“I was disgusted,” he said. “All we have asked him for was help and support.
“We can accept that he didn’t support us but he didn’t have to slate us in the press.”
Unite’s national officer Jennie Formby said: “Mr Wiggin is a disgrace to his constituents and has done Cadbury’s workers a great disservice.
“Voters will remember when this MP turned his back on Cadbury’s workers in their hour of need.
“Cadbury’s workers face an uncertain future, they are campaigning to protect their jobs – it’s not whinging, it’s standing up for their livelihoods, homes and their families. This is a classic example of the uncaring Conservatives.”
But Mr Wiggin, who visited the workers at the plant last week, says that Unite has launched a ‘wicked’ smear campaign against him.
He also said that he is confident that jobs will be retained at Marlbrook following Kraft’s £11.5 billion takeover, despite the US firm borrowing £7 billion to fund it.
He said: “I attacked the trade union Unite’s negative message and I believe Unite are wicked to put Cadbury’s workers jobs on the line to try to score political points and for seeking to cause divisions and bad-blood between the workforce and Kraft.
“I worried that my constituents at Marlbrook’s future prospects under Kraft ownership could have been jeopardised by Unite’s ill-judged and vicious campaign.
“Although having heard the comments of the workforce I am confident that Kraft will see what a great workforce they have inherited and ignore the Unite message.”
