The National Scot reported on Nov. 3 that critical engineers working at three of the Scotch conglomerate, Edrington’s, distilleries are going on strike. One of the Speyside distilleries is The Macallan. Strike talks began in September, when members of GMB Scotland claimed that they were facing longer hours with less pay.
Edrington claimed it made a number of concessions to avoid the strike — particularly before the busy Holiday season — but the parent company was unsuccessful. The strikes start on Monday November 10, and 22 days of strikes will occur during the holiday season: November, December and January.
“The unanimous support for action is only one indication of how badly managers have handled this issue and the determination of workers to find a fairer way forward,” said Union Leader of GMB Scotland Lesley-Anne MacAskill in a statement, according to The National Scot.
Trouble began when Edrington decided to remove the four-day workweek, potentially requiring he engineers to work longer shifts for no extra pay. The decision was implemented by a manager who joined Edrington just a few weeks before suggesting the “hugely disruptive” scheduling shift.
“It is an extreme course of action to needlessly provoke an industrial dispute by choosing conflict over communication and compromise,” said MacAskill.
GMB said that it expressed 100% support for these 12 workers at Macallan, Parkmore and Glenrothes to go on strike.
“The unanimous support for action is only one indication of how badly managers have handled this issue and the determination of workers to find a fairer way forward,” MacAskill said, according to The National Scot. “Their willingness to mount sustained industrial action over a period of months is another. Our members have engaged with negotiations, but every one of their constructive suggestions for alternative rotas were summarily rejected. This is a small team of skilled workers critical to the successful operation of these distilleries, and their expert voice should be heard and heeded.”
According to The Independent, Edrington issued a statement about the strikes and claimed the manager was acting in the best interests of the company.
“We are deeply disappointed that the GMB ballot has chosen to take industrial action,” said an Edrington Spokesperson. “We have been in constant dialogue with the 12 engineers involved since January and we have already made significant changes and compromises to our original proposal. We have a responsibility to balance the requirements of our distillery operations in a way that is fair to all our people and the compromises on working hours for our engineering team are now appropriately aligned with the other teams and the needs of the business.”
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