Diageo Faces Strike as 100 Staff Walk Out Over 10 Job Cuts

HR leaders should watch this dispute closely because it shows how quickly a relatively small redundancy programme — just 10 roles — can escalate into industrial action and public supply warnings. The union is directly linking job cuts at a profitable site to a broader narrative about fairness, and that framing can damage employer brand and employee morale far beyond the roles affected.

Around 100 Unite members at Diageo's Cameronbridge Distillery in Scotland are preparing to strike over proposed job cuts, with the union warning that industrial action could create 'supply shortages of many people's favourite drinks.' Reports published on 11 September 2026 describe a dispute that has already passed through a formal ballot — Diageo said it was 'disappointed by the outcome' — and now sits at the threshold of a walkout. The immediate trigger is a restructuring plan that includes 10 redundancies at the distillery, but Unite frames the issue more broadly as Diageo 'planning to boost profits at the expense of its loyal workforce.'

“

Diageo plc is one of the world's largest producers of spirits and beers, operating from 110 sites and selling more than 200 products including Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Smirnoff.

The company's scale makes this a material supply-chain event. Diageo plc is one of the world's largest producers of spirits and beers, operating from 110 sites and selling more than 200 products including Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Smirnoff. It employs about 4,500 people across 64 UK sites and just under 28,000 worldwide. Cameronbridge is a strategically important grain distillery, meaning disruption there can ripple into blended Scotch and white spirits production even if the company has not confirmed which product lines would be affected. Diageo is understood to have contingency plans in place, but the union's shortage warning is designed to signal that a strike would not be symbolic.

The financial context strengthens the union's argument. Diageo Scotland recorded an after-tax profit of £595m in 2025 and £736m in 2024. The year-on-year decline does not appear to have softened Unite's position. Sharon Graham, the union's general secretary, said Diageo was 'drinking in the last chance saloon' and that strikes would be announced in the coming days unless the company changed course. That language reflects a broader industrial strategy in which unions use the threat of concentrated production stoppages at profitable employers to create leverage disproportionate to the number of workers directly involved.