The company cost at least half a billion dollars, and employed 1,100, meaning each job cost the American taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. The company wasn’t viable, is bankrupt and under investigation, and now the workers need re-training for jobs in the non-green economy. And guess who they want to pay for it:
Ex-employees of the failed solar panel company Solyndra have applied for aid under the federal government’s Trade Adjustment Assistance program, the Labor Department has confirmed.
If approved, the employees of what was once touted as a leading exemplar of the White House’s green jobs program will be eligible for more federal funds to enable them to be retrained for other jobs.
It would be an ironic coda to the saga of Solyndra, which manufactured solar panels and received $527 million in loan guarantees from the Energy Department and praise from President Obama during visits to the firm’s California headquarters.
Now those green workers will be seeking the government’s help to find work again and not necessarily in the conservation jobs sector.
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The request was made by a representative of the 1,100 ex-employees and covers all of them. The department estimates the aid will cost $13,000 per worker for the coming year.
1,100 employees times $13,000 apiece = $14,300,000 more money.
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