Laid off from Niagara Bottling.

What Niagara Bottling layoffs have meant for employees

Two purchases came shortly before the Ocala and Plymouth notices, and if you worked at a plant Niagara had just bought, the gap between deal and notice is the part of this record worth knowing. The company's letter to Florida about the old Silver Springs plant is dated about seven weeks after the September 3, 2025 purchase that Ocala-News reported. Absopure's retail water business changed hands in June 2026, and the Plymouth notice was filed by the end of August. Two cases don't make a rule for the next purchase, but neither plant got a long stretch under the new owner before layoffs were on paper. The notices carry Niagara's name, not the old one. Michigan's and Florida's entries sit under Niagara Bottling, LLC, so anyone who still thinks of those plants as Absopure or Silver Springs could look under the wrong name.

A notice from Niagara doesn't always mean the building goes dark. The Ocala letter is headed as a notice of layoffs and talks about reducing production and volume, and in March 2026 the company said the plant remained in operation, still making and distributing products. Its statement called the cuts "a limited number of roles," and the letter counted 85. That statement was about Ocala alone. Plymouth reads differently, because the filing Eco Plastics in Packaging reported says the facility would close, and Crain's Detroit Business describes that site as Absopure's headquarters facility. If you're working out whether your site survives, whether the notice says closing tells you more than the size of the number.

These notices run through the whole building, from the production line to the accounting office. Ocala's list took in operators, finance staff and an assistant controller, and The Detroit News found management and office staff on the Plymouth notice. Timing varied by job too, with Ocala's letter setting several separation dates against its job titles. If you're planning money around a Niagara notice, it's worth building the plan on the date tied to your own job once you have it. The Ocala letter also counted remote employees administratively tied to the plant, so working from home didn't put those jobs outside the notice.

Illinois is where the paper trail gets thin. Its reports name the filer as Niagara Bottling, LLC and Waters of America Company, and neither one mentions Absopure. The tie is circumstantial, since Absopure's careers page lists hiring in both Woodridge and Champaign, along with Plymouth. Both reports give reorganization as the cause, the same reason the Plymouth filing gave, and both show no union and no bumping rights, which is what the Ocala letter said about its people too. Champaign also shows why a missing name proves little. It's on the state's August report and not in our WARN tracker, so if your site isn't listed there, the state's own list is the next place to look.

Not every cut here follows a purchase. Three notices sit in Diamond Bar, the city on Niagara's letterhead, and California labels the 2023 notice and the 2025 notice as permanent layoffs, not closures. If you worked there, the timing of a plant deal won't tell you much.

If your pay moved from Absopure to Niagara during 2026, keeping the records from both names together can save you sorting them out later. For the newest notices, Michigan's unemployment rules, Illinois's and Florida's are the state pages to start with, and California's covers Diamond Bar.

A sourced history of Niagara Bottling layoffs

• August 2026, Plymouth plant closing notice after the Absopure deal

  The notice listed 86 jobs at 8835 General Drive, including 21 production operators, the plant director and the controller, The Detroit News reported. Crain's Detroit Business called the site Absopure's headquarters facility, and Eco Plastics in Packaging reported the filing said it would close by October 31.

• August 2026, Champaign closing notice in Illinois

  A permanent closing with one layoff date, October 15, covers 15 workers at 3201 W Clark Rd., Illinois's August report shows. The filer's name pairs Niagara Bottling, LLC with Waters of America Company.

• July 2026, Woodridge closing notice in Illinois

  A September 15 layoff date for 57 workers at 10220 Werch Dr. appears on Illinois's July report, which labels the event a permanent closing caused by reorganization.

• October 2025, Ocala cuts after the Silver Springs purchase

  Niagara's letter to Florida said it would reduce production and volume, affecting 85 employees from forklift operators to an assistant controller, with separations expected from December 31 to March 31. In March 2026 the company told Ocala-News the plant would continue with a reduced workforce.

• February 2025, Diamond Bar layoff notice

  Effective April 15, 2025, the permanent layoff covered 73 jobs at 1440 Bridgegate Drive, according to California's WARN report.

• September 2023, Diamond Bar layoff notice

  A permanent layoff of 111 jobs, effective November 15, 2023, is on California's WARN report for 1440 Bridgegate Drive.

• June 2020, Diamond Bar layoff notice

  A California notice for 99 Diamond Bar jobs sits in our WARN tracker, effective August 3, 2020.

• September 2014, Burlington, Washington plant closing

  Niagara planned to close its Burlington site, making 73 workers redundant, BeverageDaily reported, citing Washington's Employment Security Department. Our tracker dates the layoff November 13, 2014.

What to do if you're laid off from Niagara Bottling

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Niagara Bottling's biggest hubs: Michigan, Illinois, Florida, California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Niagara Bottling's hub states run: Michigan, Illinois, Florida, California, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.