WORLDWIDE WIND WORKER LAYOFFS

Sinovel to Put 351 Workers on Leave Amid Slump in Turbine Sales

November 15, 2012 (Bloomberg News0

“Sinovel Wind Group Co…the world’s biggest wind-turbine marker by market value… put 351 workers [of its 2,873 person workforce] on leave…because of an industry-wide slump in sales…The company will pay workers normal wages for the first 30 days of leave and then 80 percent of the Beijing minimum wage for an indefinate period after that…Beijing’s mininum wage is 1,260 yuan ($202) per month.

“The number of workers accounts for 12 percent of Sinovel’s employees last year. The Chinese company joined Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA of Spain and Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) to scale back the workforce as competition gutted margins across the industry and subsidy cuts in the U.S. and Europe slowed sales…”

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“…[Sinovel] last month posted its biggest quarterly loss since its initial public offering in January 2011…[and] expects a loss this year as ‘macroeconomics’ and government policies curtail orders…Delayed payments from customers may push up financial costs and bad-debt provisions, it said.

“Gamesa said…[in Octobber] it will cut 20 percent of its workforce, while Vestas fired 2,335 in January and reduced manufacturing to contain widening losses.”

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