As the economic
crisis deepens more and more workers are facing the prospect of unemployment as
factories continue to be closed by bosses attempting to hang onto some their
precious profit and of course their own obscenely massive wage packets. 700 Workers
at the Diageo whisky bottling plant in Kilmarnock
(200 other jobs will be cut elsewhere, including 140 jobs out of 220 at Port
Dundas distillery) are, at this very moment, facing this plight. On the first
of July Diageo announced its plans to close the bottling plant which has been
open for over 50 years (it was opened in 1956).
The job cuts are
being used by Diageo as an attempt to increase profits, after being hit by a
drop of 7% in sales during the first three months of 2009. Despite this the
company can still afford to shell out £5 million in pay for CEO Paul Walsh.
Once again we’re offered a clear example of the workers being forced to carry
the crisis on their shoulders while the bosses keep their millions.
Diageo has
attempted to defend the scandalous cuts by pointing out that the cuts will take
place over two years and that in this time they hope to “have an outcome that
is good for the people of Kilmarnock” and “will be very keen to leave some kind
of legacy in Kilmarnock that does recognise the links between Kilmarnock and in
particular the Johnnie Walker brand and we want to consult with local people on
what that might look like." Somehow it seems very unlikely that the people
of Kilmarnock will view a “legacy” as a fair exchange for the loss of jobs of
700 people which is, of course, only made more bitter by the fact that Johnnie
Walker whisky (the brand produced by Diageo) has been bottled in Kilmarnock since 1820. Diageo also point out that they’re
planning to create 400 jobs at an existing bottling plant in Leven; this,
however, doesn’t offer much compensation to the workers and town of Kilmarnock, they’re still
losing their jobs and their historical connection to Johnnie Walker whisky is
still being destroyed. Not to mention that Diageo is cutting over double the
number of jobs that it is planning to create. Somehow it doesn’t appear to be
exactly a fair deal.
However the
worker s and people of Kilmarnock are not
simply rolling over and accepting the closure of the bottling plant. Last
Sunday 20000 people (nearly 50% of a town with a population of 44734) came out
to march the streets of Kilmarnock in protest
against the proposed closure. The community joined together to show that they
would not accept the cutting of 700 jobs in their town or the disloyalty shown
by the company to a town that has been producing their product for nearly 200
years.
In addition to
the people of Kilmarnock, representatives from
the four main parties and several celebrities from in and around the area were
present. In fact a campaign against the job cuts has been launched by a body
comprised mostly of the Scottish Enterprise and some local councils. The
problem that seems to arise from this campaign is that it doesn’t appear to be
based upon workers fighting the bosses; instead the campaigners are presenting
an “alternative business plan” to Diageo in an attempt to prove that they can
still make a great deal of profit (and in doing so continue to exploit workers)
without cutting jobs. Following this line means agreeing that workers only have
the right to be assured of their positions as long as Diageo remain in profit.
Indeed, compare of Sunday’s rally-comedian, Hardeep SIngh Kohli- said that
“this is not a war between workers and business, it’s about everyone together.”
The fight to save workers jobs cannot be fought through an attitude of working
together with the bosses- this will simply result in the issue coming up again
when profit for Diageo drop further; the only way it can be fought is on firmly
working class lines against the bosses who are trying to simply increase their
already massive profits/salaries at the expense of the workers.
The trade
unions, Unite and GMB, have, together, launched a campaign against the Diageo
job cuts; they supported the rally in Kilmarnock
on Sunday and have since said that they believe that the protest “put pressure”
on the company and that they had plans to organise further demonstrations.
While we support this we believe that further, more decisive action needs to be
taken in the form of strikes/occupations so as to ensure that all the Diageo
workers jobs are saved.
Socialist
Appeal offers the greatest support to the workers in the Kilmarnock
bottling plant and all the other Diageo workers facing job losses due to the
greed of a company that made £2226 million in profit last year. The workers and
other working class people in the community must continue to show their unity
and their unwillingness to accept this potentially disastrous proposal by
Diageo. Only in doing so can they hope to save the jobs of hundreds of working
class people up and down the country.
