DGE Diageo Plc

British-based workers at Diageo PLC, the world's largest drinks maker, threatened Monday to strike over pension restructuring, raising the specter of a disruption going into the critical Christmas selling period.

Diageo has about 5,100 workers in the U.K., of which 1,700 are covered by the pension rules in question.

The Unite and GMB unions—which between them represent 1,500 of Diageo's workers—have agreed on industrial action but haven't yet decided what form this could take.

"If and when strike action is taken, the company will focus on ensuring that our business continues as usual as far as possible," said a spokeswoman for Diageo.

Several Diageo sites in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Runcorn in northwest England could be affected by the dispute.

Diageo is the world's largest scotch maker, owning brands like Johnnie Walker, Buchanan's and Talisker that are made in the U.K. But other big brands like Smirnoff vodka and Gordon's gin are also packaged and bottled up in Leven, Scotland, meaning Diageo could see supply chain disruptions if the dispute isn't quickly resolved.

Unite regional officer Pat Mcllvogue slammed planned changes to shift Diageo's pensions to a career-average formula that he said was worth much less to members as well as a move to close a different plan and replace it with defined contributions.

Mr. Mcllvogue said Diageo Chief Executive Ivan Menezes had received £ 3.8 million in 2015, including £ 424,000 in pension contributions.

Diageo reported £ 2.24 billion ($2.79 billion) in net profit for the fiscal year ended June 30. The cost of the company's pension plan has more than doubled over the past decade, it said.

Diageo has been reviewing and discussing with unions its U.K. pensions since February. It said unions took a proposal to members, but it was rejected.

"This is clearly disappointing and the company feels premature whilst we were in ongoing discussions," said Diageo's spokeswoman. "It is also far from the positive industrial relations of past decades that the company has had with its employees."

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2016 13:45 ET (18:45 GMT)

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