Society Panic After Suntech Power Fired Too Many Staffs

The local society is in shock after Suntech dramatically sacked at least 2,000 employees and may wish to sack a further 1,000 to 2,000 employees in January, according to the sources from its production line 8.

Breaking news recently has included an explosion of bending machine from its panel factory on 28 November 2008 that has seriously injured 7 employees and wounded another 30. The accident was covered quickly by the company and was not reported on local newspaper at all.

Suntech Power is one of the biggest PV industry leaders in East Asia. However in the financial crisis like 2008 the company seems that it cannot pass the test, unlike many other smaller Chinese solar companies. Its Nasdaq stock has been falling since 2008 and it has declined 89%.

Criticism points out that lacking of efficient management, expanding too quick, bad-trained employees are three factors that stumble Suntech.

Despite of a large amount of workers from other remote provinces being fired, many local engineers and office workers were also kicked out. Unlike the unlettered workers, the panicky local community is fighting back. Recently an unemployed mother of one wrote a letter on the local online forum which was then quickly broad casted and forwarded to many other white-collar fellows in East China.

Quote:

Published by Maomaojuan on 26/11/2008:

I quited my previous job last month and went to Suntech-Power in November. I was wishing Suntech-Power could offer me a better treatment as the HR has promised me previously. Suddenly, yesterday (25/11/2008) Suntech HR informed me to go back home till January and wait for further announcement. This is absolutely a joke. Sadly I was still in the trail contract. I am a mother of a daughter and I do have a family to support. Does the Suntech-Power chief CEO Dr. Shi wish me to stay in his office to protest against the company?

I hear that the heads of Suntech had a joint meeting in October and decided to execute 2,000 staffs in December. All those out-contracted staffs will not be renewed and all those in trial will not get the opportunities to become formal staffs.

My question is, since in October Suntech is relieving staffs, why did the company still hire so many new staffs? The response of the company is so slow.

Like me, people who were tempted to quit the previous jobs and joined Suntech recently were absolutely idiots. The company methodology is absolutely absurd! Are the 30 HR staffs of Suntech cheating people all the time?

A Letter to Dear Dr. Zhenrong Shi:

The first day of my company culture lecture, I was told that you had a dream, which is "The company was growing as fast as 100%, and our company motto is Worshipping Goodness and Good Virtues; Persuading Good Conduct." I have to ask you, do you have good virtues? Are you behaving well?

The mission of Suntech was "Creating green future, benefiting human society" I have to ask you, you hire people then fire them after two weeks; you seriously harm the society stability. How dare you say you benefit people?

I've been working in other foreign company for years. I've found that Suntech's HR was HUGE, LOW-EFFICIENCY, HIRING people EVERYDAY then FIRING them thereafter.

1. The staffs are not well educated, many of whom are relatives of city councilor or so. I've heard that one staff was only 18, because he was a relative of somebody CEO.
2. The inner management was absolutely in chaos. There is no SOP.
3. The inner documents are not well flowed.
4. There is no system controlled production. SAP was just a toy. The production lines can do whatever they like to do.
5. There is no refining production. Never! For six years only last week did staffs see training from Japanese. However it was too late!

There are also many problems, I do not wish to mention. I am just sad to say, why Suntech-Power is so "low-power" (no virtue)?

My 3 years daughter asked me today, "Mum why don't you go work today? We cannot buy anything without working." I was heart-broken!

Published on xici.net forum

Nobody is aware of when and how the scandal will come to an end.

Report by Solar Expert.

Four Chinese Solar Stocks Under Threat from Pollution

By Irwin Greenstein

Mother Nature has its own beating in store for already battered solar energy stocks. As if the plunging price of oil wasn’t enough to bring solar stocks to their knees, the new report by the United Nations shows how China’s toxic pollution may hinder the development of the country’s burgeoning solar industry.

The putrid haze of Beijing that has engulfed China and greater Asia is reducing the amount of sunlight that actually reaches the ground, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Program.

In addition to being responsible for millions of deaths and blighted crop yields, these so-called Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs) have dimmed China’s skies to the extent that the country’s solar initiative, and its huge solar industry, could become DOA.

As it stands now, Chinese solar stocks are on life support — depleting the portfolios of investors who got in at the top of the China IPO solar bubble of 2006-2007.

The losses have been staggering…

1. Solarfun Power Holdings Co. (Nasdaq:SOLF) has a 52-week range of $4.20 - $40.19 - a drop of 89.5%
2. Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE:TSL) fell from 56.50 to 8.51 over the past 52 weeks - for a loss of 84.9%.
3. Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE:STP) saw it’s 52-week price plunge to $9.53 from $90.00 - a loss of 89.4%
4. And JA Solar Holdings, Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq:JASO) fell from $27.00 to 2.01 over the past 52 weeks - a loss of 92.5%.

In a conference call to analysts on November 12th, JA Solar CEO Samuel Yang said “At this moment the market reaction has been panic.”

Now it appears that China’s home market for solar products is facing a very dim future as well from decades of pollution.

ABCs reflect solar radiation back to space by absorbing heat in the atmosphere.

In China, ABCs can cut sunlight on the Earth’s surface in two ways. Fossil-fuel particles such as sulphates reflect and scatter rays back into space, while black carbon in soot, absorbs sunlight before it reaches the ground.

According to the report, smog blocks 10-25% of the sunlight that should be reaching terra firma in China.

This isn’t just a thin layer of pollution blocking out the sun. In some places, it can be a mile thick. It can stretch from the Arabian Peninsula to the Yellow Sea, sometimes drifting as far east as California.

The U.N report says “In China the observed dimming trend from the 1950s to the 1990s was about 3-4 per cent per decade, with the larger trends after the 1970s.”

What does this mean for investors?

Those of you who tend to be bottom feeders should stay away from China solar stocks at any price. As we all know, when it comes to stock markets nothing is permanent. But zero is the share price we could be looking at for some these fallen IPO stars.

Disclosure: no positions

Suntech Power Dramatic Decline Of Output

According to reliable sources, Suntech Power China has cut at least half jobs and is preparing for further cutting.

Unconfirmed sources say that one of the China's biggest solar companies, Suntech Power Co, based in Wuxi China has seen a decline recently because of financial crisis.

One worker worked in the old production line told reporters that he was told to maintain only one day at work in one week. That is to say he's only paid one day salary per week, if not worse.

Another street source told reporters that Suntech Power had already closed or temporarily closed at least 24 production lines which represent 50% of its production. Unreported and unconfirmed data show that 2,000 workers have lost their jobs.

Other big solar companies have all suffered recently, however some medium companies that have not come into market are not hit very hard. According to some sources from China Municipal Bureau of Foreign Trade & Economic, some medium solar companies in China have put more resources in R&D and they are able to pass the crisis safely because they didn't put a lot of sources into production in the last three months and they did not leave too many stocks to sell. The good management was working in these companies.

Although Suntech Power is not likely to be dead, the current situation will certainly do harm to its reputation.