A dark day for workers at the Diageo bottling plant in Amherstburg.
The plant that bottles Crown Royal whisky will be closed in February 2026.
Employees at the plant at 110 St. Arnaud St. received the news during a meeting Thursday morning.
Unifor represents 160 members at the plant.
Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue says they're the biggest employer in Amherstburg.
"This is a huge number of jobs; this is going to impact our tax base. I want to think about the people first before I think about our tax base, but as mayor, I know this has financial implications for the town," he says.
Unifor Local 200 President John D'Agnolo says it's the heart and soul of that town.
"To see what they're doing to those members and what they're going through right now, thinking about how they're going to be able to take care of their families is absolutely heartbreaking. It makes no sense to me," he says.
The statement goes on to say, "Diageo will maintain its significant footprint across Canada, including at our Canadian headquarters and warehouse operations in the Greater Toronto Area and other bottling and distillation facilities in Gimli, Manitoba, and Valleyfield, Quebec. This decision reflects Diageo’s efforts to continuously improve its North American supply chain and ensure the company is best positioned for long-term sustainable growth. Through this process, the company will unlock additional productivity and increased resiliency and capacity to scale, effectively meeting demand across its markets and shifting some bottling volume to be closer to its many U.S. Crown Royal consumers."
Crown Royal whisky destined for Canada and non-U.S. export markets will continue to be bottled in Canada, at Diageo’s Valleyfield, Quebec facility.
Prue says the majority of the stuff that's bottled here in the plant goes to the United States.
"This is what's very worrying, and why I'm immediately thinking it has to do something with Trump's tariffs," he says.
D'Agnolo says he's in Vancouver for Unifor's annual convention, and he's disgusted this announcement was made while they're away.
"The only positive thing out of this is I have Lana Payne here, the president of Unifor, and I have the director. So we're going to have an emergency meeting very shortly and go over what we need to do to protect those jobs and keep them in Amherstburg," he says.
D'Agnolo says we are going to fight like hell.
"This is a community that's wrapped their arms around Diageo, and for them to kick them in the head makes me sick to my stomach. You're damn right I'm going to be fighting like hell," he says.
“We appreciate our dedicated Amherstburg employees for their contributions to Diageo and the Crown Royal brand. This was a difficult decision, but one that is crucial to improving the efficiency and resiliency of our supply chain network,” said Marsha McIntosh, Diageo’s President of North America Supply. “All Crown Royal will be mashed, distilled, and aged at our Canadian facilities, just as it has been for nearly a century, and will continue to be the great whisky our consumers know and love. We are committed to continuing our support for the community during this transition.”