Unifor demands transparency from Diageo on Crown Royal production

AMHERSTBURG, ON, Sept. 5, 2025 /CNW/ – Unifor is demanding transparency from Diageo, as the company plans to shut down its Amherstburg, Ontario plant while claiming Crown Royal will continue to be mashed, blended, aged, and distilled in Canada for all markets, including the U.S.

“Diageo refuses to specify which U.S. facilities it is moving Canadian jobs to, while continuing to placate the Canadian public with claims that Crown Royal will not change. We are just months away from the planned closure of the Amherstburg plant that currently blends and bottles Crown Royal without additional Canadian capacity to take over the work that they claim will still be done in Canada.” 

In a statement, issued on behalf of Diageo by the New York office of a crisis management firm, the company maintains: “All Crown Royal will continue to be blended in Canada for all markets, including the U.S.” and that “To be labelled Canadian Whisky, the whisky must, among other things, be mashed, aged, and distilled in Canada – just as Crown Royal is and will continue to be.”

Front line workers who have processed Crown Royal for decades dispute Diageo’s claim, citing the current addition of Canadian water and other ingredients in the blending process at the Amherstburg bottling location, and the irrationality and impracticality of contorting the process to ship unbottled liquid product to the U.S. without impacting the quality of the whisky and incurring needless safety risks.

“The decision to shutter Amherstburg and kill more than 200 Canadian jobs was made in a boardroom in England by people who do not understand the history of the brand, with an American spin doctor tasked with addressing valid concerns about the legitimacy of maintaining Crown Royal as a true Canadian whisky,” said Unifor Local 200 President John D’Agnolo. “It’s time for Diageo to come clean on how it plans to bottle Crown Royal past February of next year – beyond vague statements of multiple sites in the U.S. and unspecified plans to mash, blend, age, and distill in Canada.”

In January of this year, following the inauguration of President Trump, Diageo announced the construction of a plant in Montgomery, Alabama, a notorious anti-union ‘Right-to-Work’ state. Unifor is concerned that once Diageo alters the made-in-Canada process for Crown Royal, it will continue to shift jobs south of the border.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future. 

SOURCE Unifor