Coca-Cola employees had heard rumours of big changes at the Adelaide plant, but were caught off guard on Wednesday when the business told them it would close its entire Adelaide operation in 2019.
“I thought it might be a few lines shutting down, but not the whole plant,” an employee said after the morning meeting. He said co-workers had been “surprised” and the atmosphere at the meeting was “quiet and very disappointed”.
“There were rumours getting around that there was going to be big changes,” he said…
“They knew something was going on, you can tell.”
But he said the news came as a “shock”.
BREAKING Coca Cola bombshell statement to ASX workers being told NOW. Details @7NewsAdelaide 6PM pic.twitter.com/yPFvth3OsX
— Mike Smithson (@mikesmithson7) February 21, 2017
Coca-Cola revealed jobs would be lost — up to 180 — when it packs up its Adelaide operation in 2019 to consolidate interstate.
“A lot of people have got financial issues to sort out now. Me, I’m nearly 58 so it’s going to be pretty hard for me to find employment now at my age because they go for the younger people.
“There’s been a couple there that have been there for just a month and maybe others for a year, so their package is going to basically be bugger all.
“There’s a few older ones too that aren’t retiring age — 58, 60. What are they going to do? That’s the hardest part.”
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