Futures' clear for Cooroy Water
SEVEN months of gnawing anxiety have ended for Cooroy Mountain Spring Water workers such as production manager Allistair Chapman and maintenance manager Greg Milinz.
Staff morale is bubbling as brightly as the pure waterfall cascading through their worksite.
No longer will the 60 employees be plagued by questions about their work security after local white knight Peter Lavin agreed to buy the troubled business that had gone into liquidation.
Mr Lavin signed contracts on Thursday that will effectively ensure the company, which also produces the 102-year-old Wimmers soft drink line, does not fall into the hands of the multi-national bottlers like Coca-Cola Amatil.
"It's been great news and the morale now is really good, there'll probably be a night out to celebrate at the local pub when the deal settles," Mr Chapman said.
Both men, who were carrying out maintenance on Friday, said they were told the day before as a management group that their work torment was finally over.
They are both married with kids and if a big company had taken over, they are certain it would have only wanted the water and they would have been joining the dole queues.
As it is they have had to face some tough situations on the home front.
"It's just the usual thing - the kids say 'have you got a job today, dad? Where are you looking? Will you have to go back and work in Brisbane again'?" Mr Chapman said.
"I doubt if any big company would have taken anyone with them. "We knew Peter was chasing it, Peter had his bid in, so we were all very hopeful that he would get it," he said.
Mr Melinz has worked on site for 10 years, but has been living from day to day, waiting to learn the fate of the company.
"This has been going on for seven months now," he said. "There were a few sleepless nights since I've been there. "It means our entitlements are secure now Peter's taken all that over."
Mr Melinz and Mr Chapman had met Mr Lavin and given him a tour of the bottling operation. "The two meetings I've had with him, he's been very good," Mr Chapman said.
They both believe their new boss is keen on expanding.
"I think we're going to be able to let our salesman off the leash - he's been held back signing people up, but now that they've signed the contracts, we'll be able to go ahead," Mr Melinz said.
Mr Lavin is a local entrepreneur who made his fortune after shifting from New Zealand to Australia in the mid-1970s as a roofer, going on to establish himself as a builder and then manufacturer of roofing products.
He described negotiations as difficult after he came into the picture late with giant Coca-Cola Amatil eyeing the company's assets, but said he was determined to keep jobs in the region. He was spurred on by the fact that Wimmers Soft Drinks were good drinks produced in a proud tradition and that the water plant was a rarity that was able to produce water straight from the mountain to the bottle as pristine water.
"It excites me," he said from his hilltop home overlooking Lake Macdonald. Mr Lavin said he had been involved in a range of industries in his working life but the theory remained the same.
"You have to have confidence in the product," he said."Coming from the bottom rung myself, I know the value of working people. They are critical to the business. I have very competent people here."
