Drinks giant urged to save jobs

Aug 27 2009

Protesters have slammed Diageo's plans to axe 900 whisky jobs following the drinks giant's reporting of a £2.02 billion profit.

Diageo, whose brands include Smirnoff and Guinness, said it suffered a "challenging" year to June, with pre-tax profits slightly lower than last year.

It plans to close its Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock with the loss of 700 jobs and shed a further 200 jobs from the Port Dundas distillery in Glasgow. A cross-party campaign has been launched to try to persuade the firm to change its plans, but Diageo said it had not yet considered the proposals.