Diageo boss 'in threat to staff if they go on strike'

Published on Monday 9 November 2009 21:51

DIAGEO chief executive Paul Walsh used his visit to the Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock to threaten workers protesting against its closure, unions claimed last night.

Mr Walsh yesterday faced some of the 900 people whose jobs are under threat with the closure of the plant in Kilmarnock and the Port Dundas distillery in Glasgow.

However, according to Unite union officials, Mr Walsh was not there to listen to pleas for a change of mind over the closure, but instead threatened workers if they took industrial action.

Unite's national officer for food and drink, Jennie Formby, claimed Mr Walsh spent only a short time with two small groups of employees before having a meeting with shop stewards.

She went on: "It was clear he was not there to listen to the arguments for not closing the plants. Instead, he suggested to workers that Diageo might return to statutory minimum redundancy packages if they continued to protest about the closures.

"So it is clear to us that he was there to threaten, not listen to the concerns of employees."

She added: "This is particularly disappointing because these workers are not exactly known for going on strike, but are people who take pride in the product they are associated with."

She said there was also fury over the amount of money Mr Walsh and managing director David Gosnell have made recently on share options while hundreds of workers were facing job losses.

Mr Walsh made a reported 340,000 and Mr Gosnell 240,000 by exercising their share options.

Diageo plans to shut down its operations in Kilmarnock and Port Dundas as part of its restructuring process in Scotland. The plans will break Johnnie Walker's long association with Kilmarnock, where it was first produced in a grocery shop.

However, Diageo intends to invest 100 million into its operation in Port Leven, Fife, where it will create 400 jobs.

There has been controversy over the Scottish Government's "heavy-handed" approach to the issue. Business leaders expressed outrage at First Minister Alex Salmond's participation in jobs rally in Kilmarnock; CBI director Iain McMillan claimed it could discourage major companies from investing in Scotland.

A spokesman for Diageo denied the union claims, insisting the visit was a listening exercise. But he said the meetings were private and he would not be commenting on the details.

He said: "Paul Walsh fulfilled his commitment to visit employees at our Kilmarnock and Port Dundas sites yesterday.

"Mr Walsh took the opportunity to listen to the views and concerns of those directly affected, and explained the company's decision to close the sites as part of the restructuring of operations in Scotland."