Striking Belfast Guinness workers warn of St Patrick’s Day supply hit amid pay dispute

By David Young, PA

Striking workers at a Guinness packaging plant have warned of potential St Patrick’s Day supply shortages if the brand’s owners fail to resolve a pay dispute.

Unite union members at the Diageo plant in Belfast began an eight-day walkout on Friday and made clear industrial action could continue if an increased offer is not forthcoming.

Workers formed a picket at the entrance of the road leading to the facility on Friday morning.

The plant packages and cans the popular non-alcohol Guinness 0.0 product.

The strike was originally planned to begin last Friday but was suspended after Diageo, which owns Guinness, tabled a fresh pay offer.

That offer was rejected by union members and the strike action was reinstated.

While Diageo has insisted there will be no disruption to supply over the Christmas period, with much of the Guinness earmarked for the festive season already distributed, workers said another key date in the calendar, St Patrick’s Day in March, could be hit if a resolution is not found.

The workers are calling for pay parity with staff at Diageo’s packaging site in Runcorn, Cheshire.

Michael Keenan, regional officer with Unite, said the workers were seeking equal treatment.

“These people haven’t been paid a pay raise since 2023,” he said.

“The management have offered an inadequate pay raise.

“They (the workers) are looking for pay parity between themselves and their sister site in Runcorn, who are being paid up to 30% more for exactly the same job, so they’re just looking to be treated equally.

“It’s the same company and this is a hugely profitable site.”

Mr Keenan added: “There will be some consequences for Christmas, but the main consequences will be after Christmas, because at this time of the year they actually do the packaging for St Patrick’s Day.

“A lot of that is exported to the States, obviously for St Patrick’s Day, so that will have a major impact.”

Billy McFarlane, union representative at the site, said his colleagues were “very unhappy”.

“We’ve been in these negotiations now with the business for the last 16 months, there’s been plenty of negotiating back and forward,” he said.

“In that timeframe we haven’t had a pay raise from 2023, so this negotiation is for 2024/2025 and the members just aren’t happy with the offer that the business has presented to them and the offers throughout that negotiations that have been presented to them.

“They’re here to try and gain pay parity with our sister site in Runcorn, they’re being paid quite a chunk more than what we are for doing the same work.”

Mr McFarlane said he hoped the company would return with an improved offer.

He said workers were prepared for the long haul if the dispute was not sorted.

“We’d always be hopeful that the company is going to come back to us with a much improved offer, which we could present to members to see if it meets their expectations.

“But if it (strike action) is going to run its course, it will run its course until the business decides to step in with something that’s accepted by these people that are out here today.”

Diageo has implemented contingency measures to manage the impact of the strike.

A spokesperson for the company said: “We respect the right of employees to take industrial action.

“We remain open to constructive dialogue with union representatives to reach a resolution that supports the packaging site’s long-term competitiveness and the interests of our people.

“To reiterate, there will be no disruption to the supply of Guinness or Guinness 0.0 over the Christmas period as a result of this strike action.”