Employees at the Crown Royal bottling plant in Amherstburg are being told to keep doing their jobs while the union fights to keep the plant open.
Unionized workers met with officials from Unifor Local 200 Tuesday morning as questions swirl around the August 28 announcement by Diageo that the plant at 110 St. Arnaud St. will close in February 2026.
There are 207 unionized employees, which includes students, along with around 50 supervisors at the plant that bottles Crown Royal whisky products.
Chair of Unifor Local 200 at Diageo Doug Benekritis says they produce so much at the plant and jump through any hoop to make Crown Royal profitable.
"They try and act like it's staying in Canada, but the majority of it is going to the United States. I believe it was approximately 93 per cent of what we produce and do in Amherstburg that goes to the United States," he says.
The company just finished hiring staff a few months ago for a third shift at the facility.
Jocelyn Girard was hired at the plant this past March and just moved to Amherstburg for her 'dream job.'
"The first whisky I ever drank that I enjoyed was Crown Royal. When I first heard about this place, I knew I wanted to work here," she says. "When I saw an opportunity come up, I applied. When I got called for the interview, I was so elated because I was so excited to work for this company, so I'm pretty devestated."
Unifor Local 200 President John D'Agnolo says he's spoken with Ontario government officials and says the union has made it clear they need to take Crown Royal products off the LCBO shelves to support efforts to keep the plant in the town.
D'Agnolo hopes to have conversations with senior leadership at the company soon, as contract talks are also scheduled to begin in November.
"We are not giving up, and we'll continue to keep those jobs there, and that was my message; I want to make that clear. I do not want them to think about severance," he says. "I want to think about making sure that product stays here in Amherstburg, and that's our goal."
D'Agnolo says there were lots of questions from the members about severance during the meeting.
"I said to the members that I'm not talking about severance. I'm talking about getting to the table and doing whatever it takes to keep that plant there. That's my whole focus," he says.
.@UniforTheUnion Local 200 President John D’Agnolo met with workers from the Diageo plant in Amherstburg to discuss the company’s plans to close the operation in February 2026. He’s sending a message that the union will fight to keep those jobs. @AM800CKLW pic.twitter.com/oeEhZ6EoPm
— Rusty Thomson (@RustyThomson800) September 2, 2025
Howard Fox has worked at the plant for 34 years and says it's a terrible thing for companies to not care about people and only care about profits.
"That plant is very, very profitable, but they want more. Now they're going to close it and move it. I'm going to say the majority of it is going to the U.S. so they can make more profit," he says. "So it's all about, to me, you're putting a whole community and all these people out of work just for profits."
Diageo said the move is to improve its North American supply chain but that it will still maintain a "significant" footprint in Canada, including its headquarters and warehouse operations in the Greater Toronto Area and bottling and distillation facilities in Manitoba and Quebec.
The company said 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 products will continue to be mashed, distilled, and aged at its Canadian facilities, and whisky destined for Canada and non-U.S. export markets will continue to be bottled in Canada, at Diageo's Valleyfield, Quebec, facility.