Nearly 600 employees at Hennessy's cognac distillery have gone on strike.
The workers are protesting against the spirits company's plans to export the spirits to China in barrels and not, as usual, in bottles.
The background to Hennessy's plans is China's announced punitive tariffs on European goods, which will result in a 35 per cent surcharge – if the drink is imported in bottles. By bottling the cognac first in China, the company hopes to circumvent the tariffs.
In France, the union fears that the solution will become permanent and that many jobs in the town of Cognac, where Hennessy has 1,100 employees, will be lost as a result.
We can imagine how it will affect future employment, says Frederic Merceron at the trade union FO and describes the news as a cold shower.
An evaluation will be made at the turn of the year, focusing on whether the drink itself has been affected by being transported in barrels. The union describes the procedure of also sending empty bottles, corks, and labels as "bizarre".
