Premier Jay Weatherill says future Holden handout deals must come with jobs guarantee PREMIER Jay Weatherill has declared Holden too big to fail but insists he will demand the company maintain a minimum level of employment if it takes further taxpayer handouts. Following yesterday's acceptance by Elizabeth worker of a three-year pay freeze , Mr Weatherill today attempted to increase political pressure on the Coalition. Coalition Leader Tony Abbott has flagged a $500 million cut to a $1.5 billion car industry support fund, which Mr Weatherill says would result in Holden's closure. However, the Opposition claims Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's fringe benefits tax changes are hitting demand for cars and placing the industry in peril. Workers gathered at the Holden Elizabeth plant to vote on the future of the company. A despondent Union boss John Camillo (right), fronts up to the press conference after the vote. Holden is expected to ask for further industry funding following the September 7 election, having already been promised a $275 million package last year that failed to stop job shedding. MORE: Mayor rejects Holden cars over 'safety issues' Asked if Holden was too big to fail, Mr Weatherill said: "We think it is in South Australia." Holden boss Mike Devereux says the vote by factory workers agreeing to a three-year wage freeze was "the first step in a long process." "My job, in the lead-up to the federal election, is to make sure that I create the best possible environment for Holdens to make that investment decision," he said. That means getting rid of any threats to the future of Holdens. Mr Weatherill defended his support for large handouts to the iconic industry, saying: "We don't believe that people should simply be at the mercy of the market." "Of course there's a judgment to be made about the benefits of the investments that we make, but you need to set that against the 16,000 jobs that would disappear in South Australia at this time of our economic history," he said "We want to continue to be a manufacturing state. It's a question of transformation and transition. Trying to build a manufacturing base out of the ashes of one which has disappeared is so much more costly and difficult than sustaining one to allow transition. Mr Weatherill said a floor on job numbers must be included in future funding deals. "We trust people, but we take safeguards," he said. Of course, there has to be sensible judgments about the use of taxpayers dollars. There has to be a floor for job numbers, otherwise the money gets paid back. That has to be part of any deal. Vote is first step in long process - Devereux Meanwhile, Holden Mike Devereux says yesterday's vote by factory workers agreeing to a three-year wage freeze was "the first step in a long process." In an emotional speech to the media outside Holden's factory, the SA secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union John Camillo said an "overwhelming majority" of workers had voted in favour of the changes, but would not give an exact split. Mr Devereux says he cannot comment on the result until the voting deadline for workers in Victoria passes late Friday afternoon -- even though those workers have been asked by unions to abstain from voting. "I understand the love and the interest the country has for the brand and I understand why people want to know our position," said Mr Devereux. But yesterday was the first step in a long process. He said once the voting deadline passes he will then approach the Federal Government after the September 7 election. The Holden boss said candidly he needed to "keep my mouth shut" for the next three weeks "and let the election play out and then have a conversation with whoever is running the country." Workers in Victoria are eligible to vote on the amendments to the workplace agreement of their SA colleagues -- even though the variation does not directly affect Victorian Holden workers -- because it is a national Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. But voting is not compulsory and unions advised the 1000 members in Victoria to abstain from voting because they do not want to influence the outcome. Due to vote over the next three days are Holden workers at the engine factory in Port Melbourne, the parts warehouse in Dandenong and the test track in Lang Lang. "We will wait until the afternoon shift at Lang Lang and then there will be an official announcement," Mr Devereux said. We will talk about the result of the EBA discussions by 5pm Friday. We have other workers that need to be given the right to vote on the EBA.