A Scottish trade union has claimed Diageo has placed 172 scotch distillery staff at risk of redundancy, with 38 jobs set to be cut as part of the company’s global restructuring programme.
In a statement sent to Global Drinks Intel, GMB Scotland said a four-week consultation process ended last week, with no agreement reached between employer and staff. The union accused the spirits giant “of rejecting alternatives to compulsory redundancies and ignoring the risk to rural communities across the Highland and Islands”.
“This has not been a genuine consultation but a box-ticking exercise by a company intent on steam-rollering through job losses to a plan that has already been decided,” said GMB Scotland organiser Lesley-Anne Macaskill.
Diageo operates 56 sites in Scotland, including 28 malt distilleries. When contacted about the potential cuts, a Diageo spokesperson said: “In February, at our interim results, we shared our intention to redesign our operating framework, to drive sustainable returns for shareholders by delivering a more competitive Diageo.
“In the UK, we are still in consultation on this and no decisions have been made. We will always prioritise informing our colleagues of any organisational changes first and have committed to update shareholders on our progress at a capital markets day on 6 August.”
The Johnnie Walker & Guinness brand owner is set to report its full-year 2026 results on Thursday (6 August), as well as details of Lewis’s plans for the business. The ‘capital markets day’ announcements follow continued speculation around employee number reductions following Lewis’s appointment in January.
There have already been several top-level personnel changes at Diageo this year – including the hire of Procter & Gamble veteran Sujay Wasan as president of its ‘Asia-Pacific’ (APAC) business. Last month, Diageo lined up the former chief people officer at biopharmaceutical company Sanofi as the next head of its group HR operations. In June, UK MD Barry O’Sullivan was also reported to be stepping down.
