Is wind power running out of puff? (3)

Indefinite 'vacation'

In November, Sinovel announced that it had put 350 workers on indefinite "vacation", accounting for 12 percent of its total workforce. For the first month of the suspension, the employees received full salary, but after this the payment declined sharply to 1,008 yuan, around 80 percent of the minimum monthly wage set by the Beijing municipal government. No one knows when the "holiday" will end, but the number of staff members "on vacation" has risen to approximately 500, according to employees.

"We were not told when to return to the office, and many workers like me are looking for a new job," said 24-year-old Wang Yiran, who has worked in Sinovel's marketing department for 18 months. He said the so-called holiday actually meant unemployment for him.

In 2011, Wang declined a number of good job offers in his hometown of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, and opted to work for Sinovel in Beijing.

"I didn't know much about Sinovel until I signed the contract with the company. The only thing I knew was that it's one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers and it offered me a good salary," he said. "The day I started with the company, I was impressed by the smiles from the receptionists, the free lunch and the professional training. I thought I had made the right decision."

His opinion changed when 15 colleagues in the marketing department were made redundant in November after falling profits prompted cutbacks. The office was full of rumors that more employees would be "let go", leading around 40 members of the marketing staff to find alternative employment in the first six months of 2012, according to Wang.

"At that time, I still had hopes of living in Beijing because I could make 6,000 to 8,000 yuan a month, depending on my performance. But now I've moved back to Harbin because 1,000 yuan was nothing in Beijing," he said. "Many colleagues said the company just wanted us to quit our jobs so it wouldn't have to pay redundancy compensation."