Diageo (UNITE) Strike Calendar

Diageo workforce unanimously votes to reject inadequate pay offer and to take strike action The UK is facing a Guinness zero drought this Christmas as workers at the company’s Belfast brewery announced eight days of strikes next month in a dispute over pay. The workers who are members of Unite, will begin strike action on Friday 5 December and walkouts will continue until the early hours of Saturday 13 December. The approximately 90 workers are demanding a substantial increase in pay to close the pay gap with Diageo employees at the company’s site in Runcorn, England.

Unite the union today (10 September) confirmed that its over 500-strong membership at Diageo has voted to accept a one year pay deal successfully negotiated by the union. Diageo workers will receive a wage increase worth around 10.3 per cent for the 3,000 employees based in distilleries and bottling plants across Scotland.

The deal is split into two parts with the first increase of eight per cent running from July until January 2025, and then an increase in real terms worth around 2.3 per cent will top-up the deal until July next year. Unite members at Diageo include: production operators, cask handlers and in distilleries.

• Workers based at Diageo's plant in Leven are set to strike in a dispute over pay.
• The strike action will begin on 14 January for a period of 48 hours and will be followed by a series of further stoppages ending on 3 April
• Unite is protesting the introduction of a lower rate of pay for new starts without consultation with the unions.
• The trade union estimates some of its engineering members are set to lose around 6% of their pay when moved to the lower rate of pay.
• The strike action will directly impact the engineering support for the bottling plant, which Unite believes would not be safe to run without the support of its members.
• Diageo reported operating profits of £4.4bn and net sales of £15.5bn in July 2022. The company has an estimated 27,987 employees.
• Diageo produces several high profile brands, including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan's, Windsor whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc, Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.