Gamesa to lay off 141 plant workers

Gamesa USA will lay off 141 workers Jan. 1 at its wind turbine blade factory in Ebensburg because the global economic crisis led to a falloff in orders, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

There are no new projects under contract because the crisis has delayed wind farm projects, halting orders for turbines, spokesman Michael Peck said.

"We're sort of at the end of the food chain," Peck said.

The company is optimistic the economy will pick up.

"We're counting on it," Peck said.

Forty-six workers will have the opportunity to take permanent jobs in other parts of the company, and 62 will have the opportunity for a severance buyout with 16 weeks' wages, Peck said.

The company will furlough at least 33 others temporarily, leaving just 97 out of the plant's 238 workers.

The firm negotiated the force-reduction agreement with the United Steelworkers Union.

The layoff will result in at least 95 workers leaving the company payroll, "still a huge number," Peck said.

"We will carry it on our conscience," he said.

He credited the union for some of the best ideas in the "restructuring."

"We have an amazing, progressive, collaborative relationship with the Steelworkers," he said. "We're extremely lucky to have them as our union."

A union official didn't return a call for comment Wednesday evening.

Management numbers took a proportional hit at the plant, although he didn't have specific numbers, Peck said.

Workers who take a buyout could come back if the plant regains enough business, Peck said.

The company is lobbying for renewable energy changes in the law, including state House Bill 80, which calls for power companies to get 15 percent of their energy from renewables by 2024, he said.

The company remains committed to Ebensburg, where it recently retooled to shift all production to a bigger, lighter blade that catches the wind more easily and turns more slowly, making it more suitable to be nearer metro areas, which shortens transmission distances, Peck said.

The plant will remain idle in December, but 14 workers will work on maintenance and operations at Gamesa wind farms, in keeping with a workforce restructuring agreement announced in July.

Gamesa broke ground in July 2005 for the Ebensburg plant, which became operational in February 2006, Peck said. Full production began in June 2006.

Gamesa's Fairless Hills plant in Bucks County is not affected, Peck said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.