Article content

By London Free Press staff

TILLSONBURG — Siemens Canada is closing its wind-turbine plant here, slashing more than 340 jobs and shuttering one of the town’s largest employers.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Siemens closes wind turbine plant in Tillsonburg — 340 green energy jobs gone Back to video

The closing, announced by the company Tuesday, comes after weeks of nervous speculation and one day of public debate over the factory, which was locked to employees Sunday night.

Its 340 employees were called to a meeting with the company Tuesday.

“This was a very difficult decision that was taken only after assessing all the options,” said David Hickey, head of Siemens Gamesa Business in Canada. “We have a great team of employees at the plant who have produced quality work for the last six years, and we sincerely appreciate their efforts.”

Photo by Jeff Tribe/Tillsonburg News

The closing raises new questions about the fallout from Ontario’s controversial green-energy policy. Siemens was one of four green-energy plants lured to Ontario under a controversial multibillion-dollar provincial deal with Korean industrial giant Samsung.

Outside the factory Tuesday, one employee talked about the frustration felt by he and his colleagues.

“There was quite a bit of anger in there because they shut the place down the other night and never really told anybody about it,” said Rick, who asked his last name not be published. “It was bang, everything was locked down.”