Talks to take place between drinks giant Diageo and unions

Drinks giant Diageo will meet with unions today to negotiate the future of workers at it's two Scottish bottling factories.

The company - which makes Smirnoff vodka - announced plans last week to axe around 1-hundred jobs, including 35 from the Shieldhall plant in Glasgow - but says it remains committed to its Scottish work force.

Unions have branded the move "a huge betrayal".

"This is a shocking betrayal of Scottish workers. Diageo isn't proposing cutting the volume of what it produces - the work will still have be done somewhere. But it’s telling Scottish workers that they're not the ones that are going to be doing it.

"Scotland has been very good to Diageo. The company makes massive profits because of its association with Scotch whisky. Leven and Shieldhall are some of the most efficient, productive drinks facilities in the world. Shieldhall has been awarded Diageo’s global Plant of the Year award.

“Workers in Scotland help make massive eye-watering profits for Diageo - for the six months to 31 December last year it made an incredible £2.1 billion. That was 16 per cent up on the previous year.

"This is not a company that is short of cash. There is absolutely no justification for Diageo to turn its back on Scottish workers, and leave scores of them without a livelihood."

The GMB had expressed concerns the move could be because of Brexit and the Scottish Government said it will do everything it can to avoid redundancies.