Govt to help SunPower employees affected by company downsizing

Government agencies are planning to assist the employees of a solar power firm who will be laid off when the company streamlines its local operations. SunPower announced Tuesday its plan to idle some solar cell production lines in the Philippines and cut about 17 percent of its global workforce, or 900 jobs, most of them also in the Philippines. According to Philippine Economic Zone Authority promotions group head Elmer San Pascual on Thursday, the assistance coming from PEZA, the Department of Labor and DOLE’s Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will be “in the form of giving them other livelihood opportunities.” San Pascual also said it’s possible the affected employees will be able to find employment in other companies. "As of now we have no exact figures of affected employees because usually the official statement would come from their main office overseas," he added, but noted that the company’s Laguna facility employs 1,294 and its Batangas plant has 2,524 workers. “I believe those who will be displaced would not come from only one plant," San Pascual said. The PEZA official also said he believed SunPower's local operations could normalize soon "as its activities are market-driven." "In fact, they had a good performance in 2011. Their exports increased by 44 percent to $1.3 billion from $900 million in 2010," he said. Trade Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio was also optimistic that SunPower's local operations would return to normal. [T]his is temporary until inventories get reduced worldwide," he said. SunPower, majority-owned by French oil company Total SA, already closed a plant in the Philippines earlier this year and streamlined its manufacturing processes at its other two plants in the country.   The solar panel industry has been hit by excess capacity and waning demand with top consumer Europe cutting back subsidies for green power. Prices have tumbled about 30 percent this year, virtually erasing profits across the industry, reports said. — BM, GMA News