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This article was published 5/3/2016 (1658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A strike has brought the production of world-famous Crown Royal Canadian whisky to a halt after all 55 unionized workers went on strike Saturday.

Jeff Traeger, president of UFCW Local 832, which represents the workers, said the strike began hours after 98 per cent of its members at the Diageo Canada distillery in Gimli voted down the company’s last-minute offer Friday. The unionized workers do everything inside the plant from operating forklifts to producing the whisky.

"The offer we got (Friday) was not consistent with a company doing as well as a world-class company like Diageo," Traeger said. "We’re hoping to get back to the table. Our members don’t want to be on a picket line, they want to make Crown Royal."

Traeger said the main issues are wages and benefits. He said the union will be asking for a provincial conciliator to be brought in.

Diageo spokeswoman Zsoka McDonald said the company offered wage increases of more than 4.5 per cent over the three-year collective agreement, along with pension, benefit and vacation improvements.

"We are disappointed with the result of the vote and the decision by the union to proceed with a strike as we believe that the offer made by Diageo was a fair one," McDonald said.

"Diageo is committed to the negotiations process, and we hope that the union will decide to return to the bargaining table soon."

McDonald said the company has continuity plans in place so it does not expect the strike to prevent it from bringing Crown Royal to the market.

The Gimli plant is the only one in the world that makes Crown Royal.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca