DRINKS giant Diageo is to cut more than 100 jobs across its Scottish operations because of concerns over Brexit, according to the GMB union.
Workers were told that 70 redundancies will be made at Diageo’s Leven plant in Fife and a further 35 its Shieldhall site, near Glasgow.
Selected white spirits production will be moved to the company’s Santa Vittoria plant in Italy and to plants in the United States.
The GMB said it had warned the UK government’s Scottish Secretary David Mundell earlier this year about the need for special measures to protect Scotland’s drinks manufacturing sector against the backdrop of Brexit uncertainty.
A Diageo spokesman said: “Following the disposal of our wine business and thesubsequent end of the wine bottling contracts, we have reviewed our spiritsbottling footprint to ensure we not only deliver leading performance for bothour domestic and export supply chains around the world, but also to strengthenour business for the future.
“Regrettably, these changes may impact some roles in our European bottling plants towards the end of the year and we will now enter a period of consultation with our employees and their representatives to discuss the proposals in more detail.
“We are committed to our three spirits bottling sites in Europe – two in Scotland and one in Italy.
“The outcomes of this review will ensure we have the flexibility to respond to increased competition and external volatility, alongside testing and building the capability we need across our global supply chain to grow our brands.”
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