Diageo workers' courageous fight wins them a better deal
10th December 2009
A much-improved and unconditional offer from Diageo has been
accepted by its Scottish workforce, Unite the union said today
(Thursday).
The union and the workers had been fighting for a fairer
redundancy deal to compensate the hundreds of workers set to lose
their jobs with the distillers as it forces through its
restructuring plans next year.
After months of campaigning, and amid the threat of industrial
action by the workers to hit the company early in 2010, Diageo
agreed to increase the termination payments by £4,000 to £9,000 per
person, and remove altogether its previous conditions that the
payment would be based on productivity and attendance.
Diageo has also opened up the pension scheme to allow part of
the packages to be paid in to workers' pension pots, enhancing both
the retirement lump sum and the pension.
Workers voted on the proposals in workplace ballots at the
Kilmarnock, Shieldhall and Port Dundas plants. The offer was
accepted by almost four to one.
Jennie Formby, Unite national officer for the food and drinks
sector, said that there was widespread sadness that Diageo would
not listen to reason on its plant closures, but that the workers
deserved every credit for the fight for fairness: "The final
package is one that provides benefits for members that are second
to none. But we firmly believe that without the courage and
determination of the workers, and the excellent leadership of their
union stewards, we would not have seen any movement from the
company.
“The fighting spirit the workers demonstrated throughout the
whole campaign let Diageo know that it simply could not walk away
from these communities without fair and proper compensation.
"Every site had a very clear majority to accept, with Kilmarnock
as the largest site showing an 80 per cent acceptance, which is a
very clear endorsement of the proposals.
"Of course we are very disappointed not to have been able to
save sites from closure, but this is a painful reminder that it is
only too easy in the UK for companies to close sites in this way.
We have advised Diageo management of the result and also confirmed
that our campaign is now formally at an end."
ENDS
Notes:
Following the recent ballots at all impacted sites, the revised
offer from the company on packages and pensions has been
overwhelmingly accepted on all sites, with the total votes as
follows:
In favour of revised offer 568 – 76 per cent of total; Against
revised offer 175 - 24 per cent of total.
Email to a friend
