Diageo must listen to the 'voice of Scotland' over job cuts, says Swinney

Published on Tuesday 14 July 2009 22:03

WHISKY giant Diageo's plans to axe 900 jobs are "wrong" and "very damaging to the Scottish economy", finance secretary John Swinney said last night.

He was speaking after hosting a summit in Edinburgh of council, union and government leaders, as well as MPs and MSPs, who are "absolutely united" in their determination to stop the proposals.

The company wants to shut its Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock and the Port Dundas grain distillery in Glasgow, threatening 900 workers with redundancy. Diageo said it would "offset" the cuts with 400 new jobs at its Fife packaging plant.

But campaigners hope they can bring about a U-turn, with an alternative business plan to the closures being drawn up. Mr Swinney said last night's meeting brought together representatives of the "Scotland-wide" campaign to fight the job cuts.

He said: "All of these different interests are absolutely united in working to persuade Diageo to change its proposals. We've got the people of Scotland behind us in this campaign – that is a voice that Diageo must listen to."

The fresh talks on how to bring forward the strongest possible case against the potentially devastating redundancies at Diageo were also attended by Scottish Enterprise, Glasgow City Council and East Ayrshire Council, MPs and MSPs.

Mr Swinney added: "We have made good progress towards working up an alternative business case. We have now commissioned consultants who will underpin that on our behalf through Scottish Enterprise, and we therefore have the ability to work very swiftly to put an alternative proposition to Diageo.

"What is crucial is that we have got to make sure that Diageo realise that their proposals are wrong, that they are very damaging to the Scottish economy and that we want to ensure that different proposals are brought forward. Diageo have to be mindful of the significance of their brand reputation and we are determined to apply the pressure and also the substantive business case to ensure we win this argument."

Kilmarnock and Loudoun MSP Willie Coffey, and Labour economy spokesman David Whitton were also present.

Douglas Reid, the leader on East Ayrshire Council, said: "We're absolutely united and determined that the story's not finished. Every tier of government and every political party is united on this. I don't think Diageo realised the impact of it in Kilmarnock. It's not just about 700 jobs – it's more than that, important though they are. They're writing off our town, and we're determined they'll not get away with it."

However, Scottish Enterprise was last night accused of "dragging its feet" over the job losses and was urged to publish a business plan to save the employees at risk.

The agency has said that concrete plans will only be produced once Diageo's plans have been reviewed independently by an external consultant.

Des Browne, the Labour MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, has already made it clear that the business case must be ready for next week, when Alex Salmond meets Paul Walsh, the Diageo Group chief executive.

"The feeling is definitely growing in some quarters that Scottish Enterprise are dragging their feet on this," a Labour spokesman said. "It must be an absolute top priority."

"Of course the business base needs to be robust, but we only have 12 weeks for the consultation period. The clock is ticking. It is vital that Scottish Enterprise supports both plants properly."

Today, Mr Salmond will sign a "Keep Johnnie Walker in Kilmarnock" petition urging Diageo to save the jobs. Scottish Enterprise refuted suggestions that it was not working quickly enough.