The Canadian Press
CHARLOTTETOWN — A wind turbine maker in Charlottetown is under investigation by P.E.I.’s Labour Relations Board after employees complained they’re owed up to eight weeks of back pay.
Entegrity Wind Systems sent most of their workers home late last month after running into financial trouble.
But most of their 50 employees haven’t been paid since mid-May.
The company has not filed for bankruptcy.
Roy Doucette, director of labour and industrial relations with the Labour Department, said they are still trying to determine the status of the company.
The department issued an order this week that requires Entegrity to pay its employees.
The company has 10 days to appeal. If they don’t pay, the Labour Department will issue a judgment against Entegrity in the courts.
“We don’t know a whole lot yet, except for the fact we have employees obviously who have not been paid,” Doucette said. “We have authority to put third-party demands on monies coming into the company.”
Entegrity has offices in Charlottetown and Boulder, Colo., and a production plant in Albany, P.E.I.
http://www.amherstdaily.com/index.cfm?sid=268027&sc=508
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Wind company ordered to pay back wages
CBC NewsThe P.E.I. Labour Department ordered a wind energy company this week to pay its employees the back wages owed to them.
Some employees who work for Entegrity Wind Systems have told CBC News their employer hasn’t paid them in weeks.
In mid-June, Entegrity told all of its 35 employees to stay home after it began to experience financial troubles.
Most of the employees affected worked in Charlottetown while some worked at a factory in Albany, P.E.I.
Malcolm Lodge, the chief technical officer with Entegrity, said the company did not see any problems beforehand.
"It happened fairly quickly and some large customers who had gone part of the way into purchases of numbers of machines scaled back their purchases," Lodge told CBC News on Friday.
"We had thought we would ride it through. We've now had to downsize the company a bit," he said.
Entegrity, which has been operating in the province since 2004, manufactures 50-kilowatt wind turbines that are suitable for small businesses and farms.
The company maintains operations in Prince Edward Island and in Boulder, Colo.
Entegrity sent a letter to its suppliers and customers in June to inform them that the economic slowdown in the U.S. has affected its overall sales.
The provincial government lent approximately $400,000 to the company. Lodge said a portion of that loan has been repaid.
Lodge said the company is currently seeking financing from both the public and private sectors so it can continue its operations.
3 comments:
More problems in the nuclear industry. Ontario got a quote for $26 billion for a couple of generators.
Forget it says Ontario Hydro: nuclear power is too expensive. The quote, they said , needs to be reduced by a few billion.
Meanwhile, wind farms in Ontario are going ahead. They are cheaper than nuclear and don't need the atomic subsities enjoyed in Canada.
John McManus
The facts come out. Today's Toronto Star reveals the true cost ( neglecting massive subsidies, cost overrune, repairs and cleanup) of nuclear electricity.
The quote by AECL ( and France Kaboom) was $26 billion for 2400 installed megs. Remember that nuclear has lots of down time and the much ballyhood intermittancy problem. This capacity is about 10 times the wind projects being approved by NSPC. In other words, Ontario, a bigger place , could easily accomodate wind farms sufficient to avoid the nuclear balckmailers.
A bit of simple math reveals the transparency of nuclear's clothes. Wind produces about 1/3 of installed capacity while nuclear produces about 75% of installed capacity.
Nuclear apparently costs $26B for 2400 megs. As we all have read on this blog, wind turbines cost about $1M per meg. So nuclear costs at least 4 times as much as wind. Some subsidy.
John McManus
Nuclear plans are failing as fast as Ronald Regan's financial legacy.
Bruce Nuclear , a private ( read pirate) enterprise the neo-cons loved has now cancelled plans for 2 new nuclear reactors. They say demand has fallen but everybody thinks they can't afford it without doubling or trippling rates. Apparently the Ontario gov't isn't about to bow to nuclear blackmail.
In Texas, more nuclear cancellations. Without massive Federal subsities, they can't afford it. The US government has obviously picked renewable energy as cheaper and cleaner than nuclear. Me too.
Next up coal.
John McManus
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