Press Association
Friday 12th March 2010
First Minister Alex Salmond has urged drinks giant Diageo to reconsider plans to axe 900 jobs.
He insisted the Scottish Government was doing all it could to persuade the firm to think again.
Diageo has announced that it plans to axe 900 jobs by closing its Kilmarnock packaging plant and its Port Dundas grain distillery in Glasgow, which dates back to 1810.
Mr Salmond told Press Association Scotland: "We are straining every sinew to get Diageo - a company which has made billions out of Scotland - to consider the full impact of their proposals, particularly on the workforce and community of Kilmarnock."
After a meeting in Edinburgh with Diageo managing director Brian Donaghey, Mr Salmond said that the company had agreed to hand over the figures behind its proposals for the Government and unions to study.
The Government will use that information to argue for alternative proposals, while urging the company to consider the effects of its plans.
Finance Secretary John Swinney will visit Kilmarnock for talks with unions and the local authority as part of the campaign to persuade the firm to change course.
The net job losses would fall to 500 by the creation of 400 jobs at a packaging plant in Fife.
After talks with Paul Walsh in London, Mr Browne said the Diageo boss had agreed the Kilmarnock plans would have an opportunity to put the "comprehensive case" for retaining production there.
