The world’s biggest Nutella factory is entering a second week of blockades by workers demanding more pay, causing major disruption to the production of the popular chocolate spread.
Workers at the factory, near Le Havre in Normandy, northern France, want a 4.5% pay rise and a one-off €900 (£800) bonus for each of the 400 or so staff. They say managers have offered a 1.7% rise and a bonus of up to €400 (£354).
Only one production line, accounting for 20% of the 600,000 jars made annually at the Villers-Ecalles site, is still functioning. Ferrero, the family-run Italian owners of the brand, told CNN that because that one production line continues to function and the factory has reserve stock, there are no current issues concerning Nutella supply.
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But there is speculation “that Kinder Bueno bars, also made at the plant, could be in short supply”, says The Times. Ferrero “has been keen to play down such talk, fearing panic buying that could prove to be self-fulfilling”, adds the newspaper.
The company said it had attempted to negotiate with the Workers’ Force union. “The mission of the factory management is to protect the non-striking employees of the factory who are in the majority and wish to continue to do their work under good conditions,” Ferrero said in a statement.
The strikers represent around a quarter of the total workforce. Workers who continue to block access to the factory could be subject to fines of up to €1,000 (£500) an hour, according to The Guardian. In the statement, Ferrero confirmed that the fines were implemented from Monday.
A union official said that the penalties constituted “an unacceptable violation of the right to strike”.
“It’s war. Anger is rising. The Ferrero family does not accept the [right to] strike,” said Fabien Lacabanne, of the union, in the Times.
Nutella production “has faced challenges in recent years, partly due to poor hazelnut crops in Turkey, the world’s biggest exporter of the nut”, says the Guardian.
Such is the popularity of the spread in France “that fights broke out when a supermarket cut prices for the product in a promotion last year”, adds the paper.
