Senvion announces short-time working at PowerBlades

GERMANY: Lack of follow-up offshore blade orders since the second week of 2014 has compelled Senvion to apply to introduce short-time working for 12 months for employees at its PowerBlades subsidiary.

by Sara Knight 3 February 2014

Senvion to switch to short-time working

The next step is to begin negotiating with the Works Council with the aim of beginning short time working in February 2014, Senvion said.

Senvion currently has "encouraging signals" that it can bring with new contracts and work for offshore turbine blades at PowerBlades by the end of this year.

Short time working helps it keep skilled workers and to set about new production without delay when new orders come in, the company said.

To help bridge the gap, Senvion plans to start production of an onshore turbine blade type at the factory in Bremerhaven.

This will reduce the number of employees, out of a total 246 at the works, through short-time working.

It follows a decision by Areva to cut 160 jobs at its Bremerhaven facility. The final number could drop to about 500 permanent contracts by the end of 2014, an Areva spokeswoman told “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç Offshore. Further, temporary work contracts will be allowed to expire, she added without giving details.