Alness and Invergordon Whyte & Mackay whisky workers consider strike action over pay
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EASTER Ross workers at whisky giants Whyte & Mackay are amongst those voting on industrial action after pay talks stalled.
GMB Scotland said the vote on action up to and including strikes at Dalmore and Invergordon distilleries, in Easter Ross, and Tamnavulin, in Speyside, have opened.
The ballot comes after a previous consultative vote rejected a pay offer branded “an insult” by workers when the company is making record profits and expanding its operations.
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The union says the whisky maker’s success has been built on the skill and commitment of workers and the offer of between 5% and 6% was not close to matching inflation over the last year and effectively a pay cut.
Lesley-Anne MacAskill, GMB Scotland organiser in the Highlands, said the company’s failure to engage with staff concerns on pay made a strike ballot inevitable.
The vote closes on Friday, May 24.
She said: “Our members in these three distilleries have shown great patience as pay talks dragged on month after month but their patience has a limit and that limit has been reached.
“The company is making record profits and its workers deserve to be recognised with a pay offer that fairly recognises their role in generating those profits.
“While Whyte & Mackay celebrates great commercial success, our members are struggling to make ends meet while being paid less than whisky workers elsewhere.
“In the absence of an acceptable offer or serious negotiations, it can be no surprise that our members are considering industrial action.”
It says the company's pre-tax profits for 2022 were £81.3 million with a 20% increase in pay costing around £6.6 million. Meanwhile, it says shareholders in Whyte & MacKay received almost £53 million in dividends between 2019 and 2022.
Whyte & Mackay, owned by Philippine-based Emperador, operates Dalmore distillery at Alness, the Invergordon grain distillery nearby, Fettercairn in Kincardineshire, Tamnavulin in Speyside, and Jura on the Hebridean island.
A spokesperson for Whyte & Mackay said: “We have received formal notification from GMB of their intention to ballot their members at a number of our sites regarding potential Industrial Action.
“As a business we continue to approach the negotiations in a spirit of open dialogue and we are naturally disappointed that, whilst negotiations started in November 2023, we have failed to reach agreement.
“The latest offer of a 6.8% award plus improvements to several benefits was rejected.
“As a business we firmly believe that our pay proposal is a fair and competitive offer.”
