Nicola Sturgeon pledged to do all she can for Diageo workers as she linked the jobs threat to Brexit.
The drinks giant has made plans to cut about 70 jobs from its Leven bottling plant, as well as 35 from Shieldhall in Glasgow.
Asked about the threat at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon said: “We will do all we can to explore all possible options for supporting the business and protecting jobs in Scotland.”
She said employees should expect a “similar response” from the Conservative administration.
But the FM added it is “really troubling” the GMB union had raised concerns about the impact of Brexit to the UK Government and “got very little response”.
“This is yet another example of the threat that Brexit does pose to Scotland, what Ruth Davidson used to tell us but doesn’t any longer, what I still believe, and examples like this sadly illustrate.”
A spokesman for Diageo has said it was consulting staff over redundancies but denied the jobs cut proposals were related to Brexit.
Earlier, Ms Sturgeon said it was opposition parties who were using independence as a “smokescreen” for their lack of policy ideas after she was attacked for pursuing a “divisive” second referendum.
The SNP leader was also challenged over teacher shortages in the country.
