Standing up to ‘corporate greed’

Workers at drinks giant Diageo have voted to take industrial action over plans to slash their pensions at a time when the company is making massive profits.

Members of Unite voted by an overwhelming majority for industrial action at the company, whose brands include Johnnie Walker, Bells, Smirnoff and Guinness.

Unite members across Diageo’s UK sites voted 82 per cent in favour of industrial action short of a strike, and 77 per cent in favour of strike action.

Diageo plans to change the Diageo Pensions Scheme into a career average scheme worth much less to members.

The company also plans to close a separate scheme – the Diageo Lifestyle Plan – to new employees, and replace it with a new defined contributions scheme.

The company’s 2015 profits were £2.8bn.

“We are proud of our members, who have sent a clear message to Diageo that they must keep their pensions promises,” said Unite regional officer Pat McIlvogue.

“No-one takes industrial action lightly – especially with Christmas coming up – but Diageo is behaving like Scrooge.

“This is a company that is rolling in cash. Diageo’s chief executive Ivan Menezes received ÂŁ3.8m in total payments from the company in 2015 – including ÂŁ424,000 in pension contributions,” he added. “Its last reported profits were nearly ÂŁ3bn. The company recently increased its dividend to shareholders by 5 per cent.

“This is corporate avarice on a scale that even Charles Dickens couldn’t imagine. But this isn’t the Victorian era, and our members will stand together in the face of this corporate greed. We will support them to make sure they get fairness and their promised pension rewards.”

Diageo has several sites in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Runcorn in Cheshire that could be affected by the dispute.

Members of the GMB union also voted in favour of industrial action.

Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty said the union would be asking politicians to support the Diageo workers and to raise the matter in Holyrood and Westminster.

“The UK is on course to be the most unequal and unfair country in the developed world,” he said. “That’s because for decades now, workers have been getting less and less, while shareholders and fat cat executives have been getting more and more.

“Unite members at Diageo are taking a stand – and as a country, we need to stand with them,” Rafferty noted. “We will be calling on every MP and MSP for their support. It’s a clear choice between the values of fairness and greed.”

In recent weeks, BMW, AWE Plc (the Atomic Weapons Establishment), Gatwick Airport Ltd, US multinational Honeywell and the Post Office have all announced that they are planning to close their defined benefit pensions. Unite has pledged to support workers at all these organisations.