"We are not commenting about it in Windpower Monthly," says Weir's personal assistant on his instruction. An unnamed source to which the question was referred at Vestas' head office says he is unable to comment, but adds: "There was some confusion as to why there were these redundancies." He referred the inquiry to Vestas' industrial relations department, which failed to return a call.
According to the Southampton Daily Echo, Vestas' blames overcapacity at the factory. It quotes Weir as saying: "The business has been growing at a phenomenal rate over the last six or seven years and now there's been a softening of demand for the product. The industry has been moving to longer blades."
The newspaper reports that Vestas hope to reduce the redundancy total to around 100 through redeployment and investment in new facilities. Even so, this would mean staff cutbacks of 18%.
