Spread the news: Production resumes at world’s biggest Nutella plant
Picket lines have been removed at the site in Normandy.
Workers at the world’s biggest Nutella factory have removed picket lines and are back at work after production was brought to a near standstill for more than a week in a dispute over salaries.
Ferrero, the owner of the hugely popular hazelnut and chocolate spread, said access to the factory was reopened overnight and “normal activity” had resumed.
Exact details of why the blockade had been halted were not clear, but the company praised the “positive outcome” that has allowed employees to resume their work “calmly”.
Activists from Workers’ Force at the factory in Villers-Ecalles, Normandy, had barred trucks from entering or leaving the factory for more than a week.
Spokeswoman Prescillia Bourguignon said management had made “positive progress”, adding that more negotiations would take place.
According to the union, 160 of the factory’s 350 workers who took part in the walkout demanded a 4.5% salary increase, a one-time 900-euro (£800) bonus and better working conditions.
It was unclear whether their demands had been granted.
The plant produces 600,000 jars of the chocolate and hazelnut spread every day — a quarter of the world’s output.
