Is wind power running out of puff?

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."

Bare-chested protests

On Nov 29, some 20 male research and development engineers who were part of the group forced to go "on vacation" staged a protest at Sinovel's Beijing headquarters, standing bare-chested in the snow to attract public attention.

The company also cancelled prospective employment agreements with a number of graduates in 2012, including Yin Wei, aged 24. After four years of studying at North China Electronic Power University in Beijing, one of China's leading schools in the power industry, Yin felt his employment prospects were good and signed an agreement with Sinovel in September 2011, when many of his peers were just starting to search for jobs. Sinovel offered an annual 3,000 yuan for interns and around 2,000 yuan more for full employees, a salary that satisfied Yin.

Visitors examine a model of a Sinovel Wind Group turbine. The company is one of China's leading manufacturers of large-scale onshore, offshore and inter-tidal equipment. [Photo / China Daily]

 

However, in May 2012, as Yin was celebrating graduation with friends, he was told the agreement had been terminated. With compensation of 2,000 yuan, Yin and two classmates were forced to return home to find jobs.

"I was confident and proud to be a member of Sinovel at first, but the cancellation (of the agreement) changed my career and life," said Yin. "It was too late to find a high-quality position, because most companies had completed their recruitment by May."

Eventually, Yin found a job with a transmission-tower manufacturer in his hometown of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. "I'm extremely interested in facilities research and development, but in the new factory I can't choose what I do, and my gross salary is no more than 2,000 yuan a month, a mere 40 percent of what I had expected," he said.

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