Closure agreement ratified by workers at Diageo bottling plant in Amherstburg

Diageo facility in Amherstburg, Ont., on Aug. 28, 2025. (Sanjay Maru/CTV News Windsor)

Workers at the Diageo plant in Amherstburg, Ont., have ratified a closure agreement.

The employees represented by Unifor Local 200 voted 89 per cent in favour of the tentative closure agreement during a ratification vote Sunday.

The union represents just over 200 employees at the facility at 110 St. Arnaud St.

In late August, Diageo announced plans to close the Crown Royal bottling plant at the end of February 2026 — in a move the company said was to improve its North American supply chain, with Crown Royal whisky destined for Canada and non-U.S. export markets now being bottled at Diageo’s Valleyfield, Que., facility, while whisky bottling for the U.S. market shifts elsewhere.

Unifor Local 200 president John D’Agnolo says they were working against a Dec. 2 deadline as that’s when the current contract expires.

“What we had to do is sit down with the company because after the contract is no longer in place, the benefits that they were getting in the language, which was two weeks’ severance, they would not get. On top of that, we were looking to see if we could get more benefits for those members and buyout packages and their pensions,” he says.

D’Agnolo says after Dec. 2, the company no longer has to abide by the collective agreement.

“That’s a reality you have to deal with when you’re in a bargaining room on a closure agreement, especially when the contract is over. Once it’s done, you really don’t have any power,” he says.

“You can’t go on strike; that makes no sense.”

Details of the closure agreement are not being released, as every individual employee received different severance based on years of service and/or age.

D’Agnolo says the employees are heartbroken.

“These were good-paying jobs, and now that they’re at this point where this is it, there are a lot of things that run through employees’ heads,” he says. “I’ve been through it. It’s wondering what’s next, and it’s worrisome.”

D’Agnolo says the company has said it will stay open until the end of February, and those who want to work until the end can, while others will have decisions to make.

“They can retire. They can retire tomorrow. There will be a lot of decisions by each employee, depending. Or they found another job or so on; everyone will be different for sure,” he says.

Diageo says its Crown Royal products will continue to be mashed, distilled, and aged at its Canadian facilities.