Scotsburn employee saw warning signs of St. John's plant closure, but still shocked

A married couple who both work at a St. John's ice cream plant say recent news of the plant's closure is still something they are coming to terms with.

Scotsburn Ice Cream's production facility on Lemarchant Road is set to permanently close on Dec. 9, leaving 171 workers jobless in the process.

• Scotsburn closing St. John's ice cream plant December 9

Tina Smith has worked at the plant for 26 years, most recently as an assistant mix pasteurizer, which means she helps make the ice cream formula at the start of production.Her husband works in the engine room, and the two actually met while working together at the plant.

Smith was one of the first to hear about the closure, and like many of the workers, is still reeling from thenews.

"It's still a little too real and raw yet," she told the St. John's Morning Showon Thursday."It was a little bit surreal to realize it was really happening."

I don't think anybody has put anyserious thinking into what's coming next yet, it's still sinking in.- Tina Smith, Scotsburn worker.

She said while the employees are still dealing with the shock of the announcement, there was some writing on the wall that the plant was in trouble.

That includes theclosure of a popsicle plant in New Brunswick this month, and a change she noticed recently just after coming back from vacation.

"When I came to work that first day, this particular production floor had these machines that were clueing up, and the lights on that floor were all off," she said.

"That beginning, made it kind of real, to see that the ice cream sandwich line and the cups and cone werereally leaving."

What next?

Smith said none of the workers she's spoken with have had a chance to really digestwith the news yet, and are waiting for a meeting with the head of Human Resources of Scotsburn, who is coming to St. John's from Truro, Nova Scotia this week to speak to those being let go.

Smith, like the other workers at the plant, will now have to start looking at what to do next once their jobs cease to exist in December.

"For startersI have to get a resume completed because I haven't done one in years," she said. "I don't know where [my experience]is going to put me, because there are no more ice cream manufacturers in the province."

"I don't think anybody has put anyserious thinking into what's coming next yet, it's still sinking in for everybody."