Clacks staff missed by Diageo axe

Jul 3 2009 by Gregor White, Stirling Observer Friday

DIAGEO plans to transfer workers from a Clacks cooperage to a new base nearby.

On Wednesday the firm announced it was shedding up to 900 jobs over the next two years.

Plants in Kilmarnock and Glasgow will be closed but the Cambus site in the Wee County will provide the home for a new £9 million cooperage.

Diageo will close the nearby Carsebridge cooperage and transfer the 40 jobs to Cambus to create a total cooperage workforce of 70.

Managing director Bryan Donaghey said the restructuring decisions had been made only after “an exhaustive review of all the possible alternatives”.

He added: “We believe the plans announced today will help secure the sustainability of our business in Scotland.

“As Scotland’s largest manufacturing exporter, 85 per cent of our output from Scotland is exported to over 180 markets worldwide.

“We therefore need to be competitive in a global context and the restructuring announced today is a key part of this.

“Our plans and the associated £100 million investment reflect the strength of Diageo’s continued commitment to Scotland.”

Ochil MP Gordon Banks said that, while the job losses were to be regretted, the announcement “does highlight the worldwide impact of the current downturn and how no company is immune from the fallout.”

And he added: “The creation of a new cooperage centre at Cambus by summer 2011 is to be welcomed.

“The closure of the existing cooperage facility at Carsebridge is understandable as a result of deciding to create the new facility relatively close.

“The transfer of employees to the new centre from both Carsebridge and Dundashill to the new centre will result in the new Cambus cooperage centre employing around 70 jobs.

“However, I am anxious to receive clarification that there will be no job losses from Carsebridge as a result of this new investment.”

Mr Banks said also pointed out that Diageo plans to relocate around 80 admin staff from Glasgow to somewhere else in central Scotland.

He said: “I will lobby hard that, due to their significant presence in the county and improved infrastructure in the area, Clackmannanshire would be an ideal location for this redeployment.”

STUC general secretary Grahame Smith said the scale of the job losses had come as a genuine shock.

He said: “Given that Diageo has publicly promoted its partnership model of industrial relations, management must now treat its loyal and productive workforce with the respect they deserve by urgently providing union officials with the full business plan used to justify these swingeing redundancies at hitherto profitable workplaces.

“The Scottish Government must pursue an urgent dialogue with the company to question the justification for these job losses and ensure that the company meets its full responsibilities to its workforce.”