Strike warning over Diageo cuts
Union leaders are meeting to plan their campaign against job cuts announced by drinks firm Diageo in Kilmarnock and at Port Dundas in Glasgow.
Last week Diageo said 900 jobs were to go, 700 of those at the Johnnie Walker plant in Kilmarnock.
Also this week, Kilmarnock and Loudoun MP Des Browne and SNP MSPs Willie Coffey and Bob Doris are to make their cases to Diageo management.
First Minister Alex Salmond met Diageo representatives on Thursday.
He said the company had agreed to consider alternative proposals during a consultation process which started on Friday.
He also said he was given a guarantee that there would be no compulsory job losses in the next 12 months.
Angry advert
There was outrage when Diageo, which made a profit of £1.64bn in the six months to the end of December, said jobs were to go.
Diageo aims to offset the job losses by creating up to 400 new posts at its packaging plant at Leven in Fife.
East Ayrshire Council placed an angry advert in Saturday’s Herald newspaper, complaining the first it knew about the plans for Kilmarnock was in a press release.
That meant the council could not discuss the impact on the town, before the news got out.
Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney is leading a cross-party alliance, which wants to come up with an alternative business plan – to persuade Diageo not to shut the sites.
Unite union members are due to meet in London to decide how to force Diageo to explain to staff why the jobs must go.
Diageo claims restructuring is needed to expand the business and ensure long-term profit.</p
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