Bravehearts oppose Diageo’s plans to cut 900 jobs

Only weeks after Diageo announced its redundancy plans, whisky producer Whyte & Mackay confirmed that it intends to cut dozens of jobs at sites across Scotland.

Up to 85 posts will be lost, with another 15 overseas sales staff facing the axe.

Whyte & Mackay currently employs 574 people across its seven sites in Scotland, including its Glasgow city centre headquarters, the Invergordon Distillery and its bottling factory in Grangemouth. No sites face closing though.

Whyte & Mackay is owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, who also controls India’s major brewing group United Breweries. Mr Mallya bought the Whyte & Mackay in a GBP 595 million (USD 1.2 billion) deal in May 2007, posting pre-tax profits of GBP 25.6 million for the 18 months to the end of March last year, it was reported.

Diageo and Whyte & Mackay may just be the vanguard in axing jobs across Scotland. Thousands of Scottish whisky jobs are under threat following a disastrous sales collapse, an industry expert warned.

Sales of Scotland’s national drink fell 18 percent in the first three months of this year. In 2008, volume was down five per cent, which was because the recession was starting to bite.

Alan Gray, a whisky analyst, argued that although the industry has been pretty good for the past few years and all the companies were making optimistic noises until comparatively recently, Diageo’s unexpected redundancies may be setting an example.

"It is the copycat effect. When one company cut costs, others look at doing the same," Mr Gray said.

About 45,000 Scots work in the Scotch whisky industry or linked jobs, including labelling, transport and advertising.

Whisky is one of the top export industries in Britain with 91 percent of the spirit made being exported.

Exports are worth GBP 3.2 billion and that figure could grow with a surge in demand in emerging economic giants such as India or China.

In the long term, once the world emerges from the recession, the future for Scotch whisky will be attractive again.

That will be small consolation to Diageo’s 900 employees who face redundancy now.