Union starts Chivas strike ballot over ‘corporate greed’ pay freeze

A union has started balloting whisky workers at Chivas Brothers over strike action in response to attempts to impose a pay freeze.

GMB Scotland said the Chivas parent company Pernod Ricard had awarded pay rises to its workers in France earlier this year.

Discussions between the union and the employer took place earlier this month through Acas. However, GMB said these talks collapsed when management suggested they were unwilling to lift the pay freeze.

The ballot runs until Monday, May 10, with industrial action potentially impacting the company’s Scottish operations as early as the end of that month.

GMB Scotland represents workers across its Scottish sites, including at Kilmalid bottling hall, Strathclyde Grain Distillery, The Glenlivet

Distillery, and maturation sites in Speyside, Clydebank and Ayrshire.

Union organiser Keir Greenaway said: “It’s not right that Chivas workers in Scotland should be treated like second-class citizens, taking real-terms cuts to their pay while their Pernod Ricard colleagues in France have rightly been awarded a pay rise.

“This is about standing up to corporate greed in the fight for proper value, and that’s why we are now balloting our members for industrial action.”

As well as its namesake products, the company produces brands including Ballantine’s, Glenlivet, Royal Salute and Aberlour.

Chivas has been contacted for comment.

GMB Scotland will ballot workers at Chivas Brothers.