Workers strike at LVMH and Pernod Ricard Champagne houses

Employees from some of LVMH’s biggest Champagne houses have gone on strike amid mounting financial pressure and job cuts. Staff from Pernod Ricard's G.H Mumm and Perrier-Jouët also joined the picket line. 

Workers at LVMH’s Champagne houses in Reims walked out on Tuesday (13 May) in protest over pay and job security. Employees from Pernod Ricard's G.H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouët, joined the strike action, according to Just Drinks, which first reported the news. 

In terms of the situation at LVMH's Moët Hennessy, the protest highlights growing discontent among staff in the company's wine and spirits arm. Unions claim that cost-cutting measures are putting jobs and livelihoods at risk.

While Pernod Ricard employees were also involved in the Reims demonstrations, the strike action from LVMH staff comes at a particularly turbulent time for the group’s drinks division. 

LVMH’s wine and spirits business is under financial strain following years of expansion. According to a report by The Financial Times, the division made a loss of €1.5 billion in 2024, reversing its previous position of generating €1bn in cash in 2019.

The downturn is blamed on aggressive price increases, underperforming acquisitions, and a costly push into direct-to-consumer channels. Sales have dropped back to near-2019 levels, despite the higher prices. Profit margins slumped to 23% last year. 

The FT also reported that roughly 1,200 jobs will be cut across the Moët Hennessy portfolio as the company scales back its growth ambitions. A full strategic review is now underway. Staff from LVMH's Veuve Clicquot house took part in a separate demonstration on Tuesday (13 May) according to the Champagne branch of the CGT union. 

Among the acquisitions now under scrutiny are Jay-Z’s Armand de Brignac Champagne and Napa Valley’s Joseph Phelps, which have yet to deliver the returns expected.

LVMH has declined to comment on the reported restructuring.

New leadership, new direction

Moët Hennessy brought in new leadership in February 2025, with Jean-Jacques Guiony, formerly LVMH's chief financial officer, appointed as CEO, and Alexandre Arnault joining as Deputy CEO. The latest moves suggest a shift away from expansion and towards consolidation. The division is now focusing on “managing costs tightly,” the Financial Times said, citing sources familiar with the matter. 

The shake-up reflects broader market pressures in the luxury drinks sector, where high-end Champagne and spirits are proving harder to sell in a cooling global economy. 

Pernod Ricard's situation

Regarding Pernod Ricard's involvement in the strike action, workers protested outside the Mumm cellars on rue du Champ de Mars. According to the CGT Champagne union, over 100 employees from the Mumm and Perrier-Jouët vineyards joined the demonstration. The Force Ouvrière and CFDT unions are also representing workers.

Stéphane Levasseur, secretary of the economic and social committee at Mumm, told Just Drinks that around 60 Mumm employees took part in Monday’s strike. He cited two key reasons for the stoppage: a failure to secure wage increases in annual negotiations (known as NAO) and concerns over the “potential sale of Mumm by Pernod Ricard to another buyer”.

“There will certainly be other strike movements in the coming weeks,” Levasseur warned, “and these will be amplified if the sale of Mumm Champagne is confirmed.” He also said that the “social climate is very degraded at Mumm and in the Pernod Ricard group,” adding that the parent company “does not currently wish to communicate with us on the subject.”