Unifor: Diageo must ‘come clean’ over Crown Royal
Trade union Unifor has disputed Diageo’s claim that Crown Royal will not change after the firm announced plans to close a bottling plant in Ontario.
Last month, Diageo announced its plan to shut a Crown Royal bottling facility in Amherstburg, Ontario, by February 2026.
Diageo intends to shift some of its bottling capabilities to the US to improve its North American supply chain and support long-term growth, the UK-based drinks conglomerate said.
Going forward, Crown Royal bottles designated for Canada and non-US export markets will be bottled at Diageo’s Valleyfield plant in Quebec.
Canada’s largest union in the private sector, Unifor, is urging Diageo to clarify where bottling for the Canadian whisky brand will occur in the US.
A Diageo spokesperson told The Spirits Business last week that most of Crown Royal’s bottling for the US market would move to multiple Diageo facilities across the States, but it did not name the sites.
In a statement, Unifor said: “Diageo refuses to specify which US facilities it is moving Canadian jobs to, while continuing to placate the Canadian public with claims that Crown Royal will not change.
“We are just months away from the planned closure of the Amherstburg plant that currently blends and bottles Crown Royal without additional Canadian capacity to take over the work that they claim will still be done in Canada.”
Quality concerns
Diageo has reiterated that Crown Royal whisky will “continue to be mashed, distilled, blended and aged in Canada”.
Workers at Crown Royal argue against this claim, citing the addition of local water and other ingredients in the blending process at the Amherstburg site.
They also noted the “irrationality and impracticality of contorting the process to ship unbottled liquid product to the US without impacting the quality of the whisky and incurring needless safety risks”.
The closure of the Amherstburg site will axe more than 200 Canadian jobs, Unifor said.
“The decision to shutter Amherstburg and kill more than 200 Canadian jobs was made in a boardroom in England by people who do not understand the history of the brand, with an American spin doctor tasked with addressing valid concerns about the legitimacy of maintaining Crown Royal as a true Canadian whisky,” said Unifor Local 200 president John D’Agnolo.
“It’s time for Diageo to come clean on how it plans to bottle Crown Royal past February of next year – beyond vague statements of multiple sites in the US and unspecified plans to mash, blend, age, and distil in Canada.”
Unifor also expressed its concern that Diageo would “continue to shift jobs south of the border”, pointing to the company’s recent plan to open a US$415 million plant in Alabama – an “anti-union” state.
Diageo has not yet provided a statement in response to Unifor’s comments.
The decision to close the site also prompted criticism from Ontario premier Doug Ford, who threatened to “hurt” Diageo and called on the public to support companies that make whisky in the province.
Last week, Diageo stated it plans to maintain its “significant footprint” across Canada, including the group’s Canadian headquarters and warehouse operations in the Greater Toronto Area, and other bottling and distillation facilities in Gimli, Manitoba and Valleyfield.
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