Diageo is facing more than two weeks of strike action at its Cameronbridge distillery in Fife after Unite warned that industrial action could bring production at one of Europe’s largest grain distilleries to a standstill.
Workers at the Leven site are due to begin a series of strikes on Monday September 28 in a dispute over jobs.
Different groups will take part in separate periods of industrial action, including distillation and process controllers, distillery and machine operators, technicians, quality control analysts, process chemists and engineers.
The action is scheduled to continue until shortly before 6am on Thursday October 15. Unite said the targeted strikes were expected to disrupt production throughout the period.
The dispute comes as Diageo, the drinks group behind brands including Johnnie Walker, faces pressure to reduce costs as part of a wider global restructuring programme. Unite has claimed that hundreds of jobs are being cut across Diageo’s Scottish operations, with dozens of positions at Cameronbridge potentially at risk.
Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said: “Unite has repeatedly warned Diageo that there is no justification for slashing hundreds of jobs across its operations when it is raking in hundreds of millions of profit.
“We are backing our members at Cameronbridge all the way in their fight for jobs, pay and conditions.”
Dougie Maguire, Unite’s deputy Scottish secretary, said the company still had an opportunity to reverse the proposed cuts.
“It really is last orders for Diageo. It has a final opportunity to step back from its callous cuts at Cameronbridge.”
He warned that if the drinks group “fails to halt these self-destructive proposals, then strikes will bring production to a standstill”.
Maguire added: “Industrial action will disrupt the supply of many people’s favourite drinks, but the blame for this will lie squarely with Diageo’s management.”
Cameronbridge is a significant part of Diageo’s spirits production network and produces grain spirit used in a range of its whisky brands. Prolonged disruption at the site could therefore put pressure on production schedules and supply chains, although the eventual impact would depend on the duration and scope of the industrial action.
The strike threat highlights the tensions facing large consumer-goods companies as they seek to restructure operations and reduce costs while managing relations with their workforces.
For Diageo, the dispute also comes at a sensitive point for the wider spirits industry, where producers are navigating changing consumer demand, inventory levels and pressure on margins.
The company now faces negotiations with Unite ahead of the planned walkouts, with the outcome likely to determine whether the industrial action proceeds as scheduled and how far production at Cameronbridge is affected.
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