Cadbury's parent company Mondelez granted more generous conditions to its employees than SPC Ardmona, including more than twice the redundancy pay, 10 days a year paid leave for union delegates for training, and even a dust allowance.

Mondelez's new Suttontown production agreement struck with the union United Voice stipulates that employees at its Mount Gambier plant can cash out their accrued sick leave in some circumstances.

Illustration: Ron Tandberg.

The potentially embarrassing revelation comes within days of the Abbott government confirming that Cadbury's Tasmanian plant will receive $16 million while SPC Ardmona has been denied a requested $25 million to stay afloat.

Rejecting the SPC Ardmona bid, the government had slammed management for allegedly caving in to union pressure, depicting the Shepparton-based fruit processor as badly run and financially irresponsible. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and several senior figures pointed to chronic employee feather-bedding in the SPC Ardmona enterprise bargaining agreement as a central reason for rejecting the plea for assistance, despite fears the fruit processing works would close, costing 756 jobs directly and decimating the regional economy in the Goulburn Valley.