Heineken and Brewdog could be among the British brewers to suffer from a shortage of canned drinks this summer due to planned strike action, Unite Union has warned.
The trade union said around 200 can production workers at the Crown Bevcan factory in Carlisle will strike on nine working days from 4 to 17 June.
The move comes after workers had already taken two days of strike action over a 3% pay offer, as it didn’t “reflect rising living costs”.
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Unite regional officer Malcolm Carruthers said the strike would likely impact both day and night shifts, leaving “Crown Bevcan unable to fulfil its orders”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham added that Crown Bevan was part of a “hugely profitable business empire”, that could “easily afford to pay workers a wage that will help combat this punishing living costs crisis”.
Crown Bevan, which is part of the Crown Holdings group which produced over £8.4 billion in net sales in 2021.
In the company’s 2021 financial report, it boasted an adjusted earnings per share increase of 29% over the previous year and 47% over the three year period beginning in 2019.
“We have been made aware of proposed industrial strike action at Crown Bevcan’s Carlisle site,” a Heineken spokesperson said.
“Clearly our hope [is] that the dispute is resolved, we have a robust supply chain to mitigate any disruption and we will continue to monitor the situation.”
The news comes as Heineken is set to close the historic Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, one of the oldest in the UK – with 300 jobs at risk.
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