Diageo puts 172 workers at Scottish distilleries at risk of redundancy.

Diageo has put 172 workers at its distilleries in the Scottish Highlands and islands at risk of redundancy as part of a restructuring plan that is raising concern in Speyside, one of Scotland’s main whisky-producing regions.

The company said 38 roles could be eliminated, or 22.1% of the employees covered by the process. The sites named in the dispute include Cardhu, Cragganmore and Dufftown in Moray, along with other Speyside and island operations. Diageo has not announced any distillery closures, and it has not said that production volumes or capacity would be reduced by the same measure.

The proposed cuts have drawn a political response in Moray, where Laura Mitchell, a member of the Scottish Parliament for the Scottish National Party, said she had asked for urgent meetings with Diageo and with GMB Scotland, the union representing affected workers. Mitchell said the possible job losses were worrying for employees and for an area where whisky is a central source of work and business activity.

“It’s no secret that the whisky industry has faced some tough economic headwinds in recent months, driven largely by global events,” Mitchell said in comments released after the consultation process ended. “That doesn’t make any potential job losses any less concerning, and as Moray’s MSP I, of course, don’t want to see redundancies in Speyside.”

She added that she was in touch with both the company and the union and wanted urgent talks on the effect on staff and on the wider Moray economy.

The dispute comes after a formal four-week consultation recently ended without agreement between Diageo and GMB Scotland. The union has accused the company of failing to engage in a meaningful way and said the process amounted to a “box-ticking exercise.” GMB Scotland said company representatives involved in the meetings did not have the authority to change the plan and that alternatives put forward by workers were dismissed.

According to the union, those alternatives included voluntary redundancy and job-sharing arrangements aimed at reducing the number of compulsory job losses. GMB Scotland said it formally rejected the outcome of the consultation and called on politicians across the Highlands and islands to intervene.

Lesley-Anne Macaskill, an organizer for GMB Scotland, said the effect of any layoffs would extend beyond the distilleries themselves. In many parts of Speyside and the islands, distillery wages support local shops, transport services, hospitality businesses and contractors in communities with few large employers.

That wider local impact is a major part of the political concern. Moray is home to several of Scotland’s best-known malt whisky sites, and the industry shapes both employment and tourism in the region. Distilleries are not only production facilities but also anchors of local identity and visitor traffic. Any reduction in jobs, even without a closure, can weigh heavily on small towns where a single site supports many households.

Diageo said no final decision had been made. In a statement, a company spokesperson said the group had told investors in February that it intended to redesign its operating framework in order to improve competitiveness and deliver sustainable returns for shareholders. The spokesperson said that in the United Kingdom the company was still in consultation and that no decisions had been taken.

The company also said it would continue to inform employees first about any organizational changes and would update shareholders on its progress at its Capital Markets Day. The statement pointed to a broader effort inside Diageo to simplify parts of the business and reduce costs.

The Scottish whisky producer’s moves in Moray are part of a much larger overhaul across the global drinks group. Reuters has reported that under Chief Executive Sir Dave Lewis, who took over in January, some teams across Diageo have been facing cuts of 20% to 30% as the company tries to lower overhead and streamline operations. The pressure behind that effort has come in part from weaker trading in North America, Diageo’s largest market, and from a wider push to improve performance after a period of slower demand.

That broader context matters in Scotland because Diageo is one of the most important operators in the country’s whisky industry. The company runs 31 distilleries in Scotland and accounts for about one-third of Scottish whisky production, according to figures previously reported by The Herald. Decisions taken in London or at the group level can therefore reach deep into rural areas where the company has had a presence for generations.

The current case has also exposed a tension that is becoming more common in the beverage industry: the gap between a global cost-cutting strategy and the realities of labor in specialized production regions. In Speyside, distillery jobs are often skilled, long-term roles tied to communities with limited alternatives. A reduction of 38 positions may look modest on a global balance sheet, but in local terms it can mean a loss of experience, income and confidence in places that depend on the sector.

Union officials have argued that this is why the consultation mattered. They say workers expected a genuine discussion about how to reduce costs without forcing redundancies. The company, for its part, has stuck to the position that the process is not complete and that no final outcome has been approved.

The lack of a final decision leaves workers in a period of uncertainty. Employees at the affected sites still do not know which roles, if any, will be removed, and Diageo has not publicly detailed how the proposed cuts would be distributed among the named distilleries. It has also not specified whether support measures, redeployment options or revised proposals are still under consideration.

For Mitchell, who began representing Moray at Holyrood in May, the issue is an early test of how local and national politicians respond when a major whisky company seeks to cut jobs in one of Scotland’s best-known producing areas. Her intervention adds pressure at a sensitive moment for Diageo, as it balances investor demands for savings against mounting resistance from workers and elected officials in communities where whisky remains one of the main economic pillars.