Mondelez International Inc., Deerfield, Ill., has ceased contributing to its union employees' $4.2 billion defined benefit plan and moved those employees to an enhanced version of its defined contribution plan, company spokeswoman Laurie Guzzinati confirmed.
Effective Wednesday, Mondelez will provide union workers with the enhanced DC plan. Details on the enhancements could not be learned. Whatever employees have vested in the Bakery and Confectionery Union and Industry International Pension Fund, Kensington, Md., will be theirs.
The move is part of the company's "last, best and final offer" that has "been on the table since 2016," Ms. Guzzinati said. Negotiations broke down in April 2016. The change was implemented without union approval. The multiemployer plan is expected to be insolvent by 2030. Union spokeswoman Corrina Christensen could not be immediately reached for comment at press time.
The company also implemented a retroactive wage increase for union workers as part of the deal.