Workers facing the axe at drinks giant Diageo claim they have won their fight for fairer redundancy payments.

In September, Diageo announced it was pressing ahead with the closure of the Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock and the Port Dundas grain distillery in Glasgow, |with 900 workers at the two sites losing their jobs.

The announcement triggered a massive cross-party campaign to try to force Diageo to reconsider.

But on Wednesday, Unite confirmed the campaign to save the jobs had ended.

Unite said yesterday that Diageo had agreed to increase the ‘termination payments’ by £4,000 to £9,000 per person and remove altogether its previous conditions that the payment would be based on productivity and attendance.

The drinks giant has also opened up the pension scheme to allow part of the packages |to be paid in to workers' pension pots, boosting not just the retirement lump sum, but the pension as well, Unite said.

Workers had voted on |the Diageo proposals in workplace ballots at the Kilmarnock, Shieldhall and Port Dundas plants recently.

The offer was accepted by almost four to one, Unite said.

Jennie Formby, Unite national officer for the food and drinks sector, said:

“The final package is one that provides benefits for members that are second to none.”