The 60 Actavis workers who were told they only had a job until the end of the year feel “lost and devastated”, as many of them have loans to pay, planned weddings and holidays.

Some of the workers said their primary concern was financial and whether they would find a similar job with some other pharmaceutical firm.

Still in shock, the workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, recounted how they walked into work on Thursday with a job and walked out knowing that, within nine months, they would be idle.

The workers received an e-mail early on Thursday calling them to an urgent meeting later that same morning. Management informed them the company’s research and development section would close down by the end of the year.

The reason given was that when US pharmaceutical giant Watson bought Actavis earlier this year, it ended up with many R&D units, all doing the same work. One employee, in his 30s, said he was planning to marry in the next couple of years and was doing up his matrimonial home.

“Sometimes I pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. When you have a steady job like the one I had, you make plans.

“I know people who have already paid deposits for a holiday and others who made expenses. I’m doing up my house and bills just don’t stop coming,” he said.

Another worker recounted how difficult he had found it to inform his relatives, pointing out that the news was already on timesofmalta.com by the time he got round to making his phone calls.

“It was on your news portal within minutes. It’s a very difficult time for us. We came here with a job and now we won’t have a job after the end of this year. I appreciate that management told us immediately and did not procrastinate. At least, we can now start looking for job opportunities elsewhere,” he said.

An Actavis employee, who is among the other 1,000 workers the company said it would retain, said that although they had been given an assurance that their jobs were safe, especially through a Government statement on Thursday, they could not help but worry that their jobs were next to be axed.

“I do not work in that department but, if we are talking of competitiveness, pounds, shillings and pence, what if they find someone to do my job at half the cost? Is my job really guaranteed?” she wondered.

The management met Malta Enterprise on Thursday with the aim of finding a solution that would safeguard the people affected. Talks are still under way.