LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: A top executive of Kraft Foods faced tough questions about chocolate from the British Parliament yesterday. Then he apologized for his company's decision to shutdown a Cadbury's factory.</s>LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: Kraft recently bought Cadbury's in a high profile takeover drama that dragged on for months. Many Brits were unhappy about the merger. Now some are furious about Kraft's decision to close the plant it had promised to keep open.</s>LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: From London, Vicki Barker has more.</s>VICKI BARKER: Union leaders told the committee they had long understood the Somerdale plant was no longer viable. They said they'd repeatedly begged Kraft not to make unrealistic promises. But Kraft kept repeating its original statement until after the takeover was approved.</s>VICKI BARKER: Union leader Jack Dromey.</s>Mr. JACK DROMEY (British Trade Unionist): A proud workforce in a proud community had their hopes raised and their hopes then dashed. It was utterly cynical.</s>VICKI BARKER: From Kraft executive Firestone, a public apology.</s>Mr. MARC FIRESTONE (Executive Vice President, Kraft Foods): I was there in the room when that statement was drafted, and I do sincerely personally express my apology that we have created that uncertainty.</s>VICKI BARKER: Firestone promised a two-year freeze on further Cadbury plant closures and factory floor layoffs. But lawmaker charged Kraft had made and broken similar pledges to another British confectioner, Terry's of York, before shutting down UK production of the Chocolate Orange. Now the union is pressing for a Cadbury's law to protect other British companies from hostile takeovers by foreign firms.</s>VICKI BARKER: For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.
A top executive of American food giant Kraft apologized to British workers during a two-hour grilling from a parliamentary committee Tuesday. During its recent hostile takeover of British chocolate maker Cadbury, Kraft promised to rescue a factory that Cadbury had planned to close. After the takeover, Kraft closed the factory anyway.