Workers at Crown Royal bottling plant in southwestern Ontario ratify closure deal

A bottle of Crown Royal Canadian whisky is seen in Burlington, Ont., on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Vokey

Workers at a Crown Royal whisky bottling plant in Ontario have ratified a closure deal that gives them an increase in severance pay and other benefits, as the union hopes other liquor manufacturers might be able to save those jobs.

Unifor Local 200 president John D’Agnolo said 89 per cent of workers at the Diageo plant in Amherstburg, Ont., voted in favour of a closure agreement the union negotiated with the employer.

He said the vote was conducted just one day before the workers’ contract expired on Dec. 2, which could have left them with the minimum benefits required under labour laws if a deal was not reached.

“We knew that, we realized that, and the company recognized that,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

“I told them we need to sit down and go over and see what we can do to get as much as we can for the members.”

D’Agnolo said the deal provides the 165 union members with extra pay on top of the severance pay they are entitled to under the collective agreement. He said the union bargained “a substantial increase” on top of the two weeks of pay for each year of seniority.

“An extra, I don’t want to call it a bonus, but money on top of that, depending on your years of seniority,” he said.

He said the deal also gives workers who are going to lose their jobs access to a program funded by the company to help them get education and write new resumes.

“There was a lot of work that was done to get where we were, but clearly the members are devastated,” he said of the looming plant closure.

“They were hoping to retire there. These are good paying jobs with pensions.”

Diageo announced in August that it was planning to shut down the Crown Royal bottling plant at the end of February 2026. The company said it was shifting some bottling volume to the United States in a move to improve its North American supply chain, but Ontario Premier Doug Ford has slammed Diageo for that decision.

D’Agnolo said reaching the final agreement was a sad moment for the union members, “and the mixed emotions were quite tough when being in that room.”

“It’s sad that it’s no longer going to be there, that company’s been there for generations,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking.”

D’Agnolo said he hopes the Ontario government reaches out to other liquor manufacturers to help bring back the lost jobs in Amherstburg.

“We should be outreaching to those companies to say, ‘Hey, here’s an opportunity, we already have an existing plant. This is how much it’s going to sell for. We’ll support you if you come here and create the jobs,’” he said.

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“It benefits both sides, so I’m hoping something like that will come to light, but we have nothing yet that we know of.”

Diageo has said that it will engage with the community and find ways to support the workers. The company said 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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2025.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press