The sale of parts of the insolvent Windanlagenbauers Senvion to the German-Spanish competitor Siemens Gamesa is perfect. This would secure around 2000 jobs, which meant 60 percent of jobs, said Senvion. In Germany, however, almost 900 of the remaining 1400 jobs will be lost.
Business is currently difficult for the entire wind industry. In Germany, hardly any new plants were built on land in the first half of 2019. The competition around the world is tough and difficult to win in the background for smaller manufacturers without large corporations.
Siemens Gamesa is taking over significant parts of the European services business for wind turbines on land as well as rotor blade production in Vagos, Portugal.
The IG Metall coast welcomed the completion of the negotiations. "With the takeover of the service business by Siemens Gamesa, there is a long-term perspective for about 500 employees in Germany," said district manager Meinhard Geiken. The tariff working conditions were maintained. "Nevertheless, it is painful to see how with Senvion a pioneer of the wind power industry with its own production and construction in Germany disappears from the market and hundreds of workers lose their jobs."
About 600 employees are to be trained for jobs in other companies
As early as October 1, 270 Senvion employees were transferred to transfer companies. The union expects this solution to be made possible for some 600 more workers facing dismissal in the coming months. This is still under financing reservation.
Employees are qualified by the employment agency and the company for new tasks in other companies. Discussions are underway with the provincial governments in Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel on possible additional funds so that the transfer companies can work longer than four months.
A general agreement on the sale had already been made in mid-September, the Senvion Creditors' Committee approved a few days ago. For some business areas, such as activities in India and the non-European service business, further negotiations are ongoing with potential investors.
