Coca Cola to axe 250 jobs in Drogheda

More than 250 jobs are to be axed at a Coca Cola manufacturing plant in Co Louth, the company confirmed today.

A spokeswoman said two other plants in Counties Mayo and Kildare are sufficient to meet its future demands and that the Drogheda-based facility will close in September 2008.

She added some affected staff could transfer to either of the remaining Irish facilities.

The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) slammed the decision while the Government said it was a blow to affected employees.

Manager of the plant Hugo Reidy said: “Over the last 30 years, the employees in the Drogheda plant have made a very valuable contribution to the Coca-Cola business,” he said

“The company will be offering a generous redundancy and early retirement package together with financial advice, job search, re-training and business start-up assistance for the employees affected.

“We are going into a period of consultation with the employee representatives on the redundancies which we are proposing to make,” he said.