ABERFOYLE – There will be layoffs at the Aberfoyle water bottling plant as part of BlueTriton’s sale of its Ontario portfolio.
According to a Form 1 Notice of Termination of Employment letter posted at the plant, 144 employees will be laid off as of Jan. 31, 2025.
BlueTriton recently announced it had initiated a public sale of the former Nestle Waters plant and would be winding down its operations in Ontario by the end of January 2025.
A spokesperson for BlueTriton has not responded to multiple requests for comment on how workers would be impacted as a result of this sale, the reported layoffs or what severance the company has offered.
The company bought the Aberfoyle plant and two wells in Wellington County from Nestlé Waters Canada in 2021.
BlueTriton is in the process of merging with Primo Water Corporation, headquartered in Tampla, Fla., into a single company.
A company spokesperson previously said the decision to close the Aberfoyle plant is not related to the merger.
A current employee at the plant provided EloraFergusToday with a photo of the letter they said was posted on a notice board at BlueTriton’s Aberfoyle water bottling plant.
The notice features a letterhead from the province’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
Under the Employment Standards Act, employers terminating more than 50 employees are required to submit the completed Form 1 to the director of employment standards, to post a copy of the completed Form 1 in the workplace and to provide a copy of the completed Form 1 to each affected employee.
The Form 1 said there are 151 employees in total at the BlueTriton plant, 100 hourly and 51 salaried. It stated all hourly employees and 44 salaried employees are part of the layoffs.
Another posting on the notice board, also provided by the current employee, shows the company has brought in career counselling services to provide information on federal and provincial employment programs.
The current employee, who asked to remain anonymous because they still work there, said employees learned about this at a meeting and the explanation given was the plant wasn’t making enough money.
People are still showing up to work, the employee said, but some are mad, some are worried and others decided they will be putting in the bare minimum.
“It went from a place where everyone cared to basically no one cares now,” the employee said.
In an email, Puslinch Mayor James Seeley called BlueTriton a "great corporate citizen, contributing to local service groups within Puslinch and surrounding areas."
"The final use of the property is yet to be determined. BlueTriton was the third largest taxpayer in Wellington County," Seeley said. "Along with the loss of jobs, this is significant to our community."
Seeley took issue with water advocacy group the Wellington Water Watchers calling BlueTriton's exit from Ontario a win in a press release.
"It is troubling for me to classify this as a win by members of the public that reside outside of our community as the loss of quality of jobs will be very impactful to many families here in Wellington in these tough economic times," he said.
