FREMONT (KRON) -- Construction workers at the Solyndra Plant in Fremont will be spending the day at home Wednesday without pay as President Obama visits the company to praise its work on solar panels.
Union workers have been told not to come back until Thursday because of security concerns associated with the President's visit. Workers tell KRON 4's Kate Thompson this day off means they won't get paid.
"It's with no pay and we have no choice," construction worker Adam Bracamontes told Kate. "We have to take a day off and come back Thursday. We don't get to meet the President. We're the workers and we don't get to see him."
"I'm a little bummed because I would love to meet the President," worker Rich Patten added. "We were told we had the day off so it is what it is."
KRON 4's Gabe Slate reports the President chose Solyndra because it received stimulus funds to help create green jobs.
Neither the company nor several unions returned Kate's calls for comment on why the workers were losing a day's pay for the President's visit.
Fremont, CA, March 20, 2009 – Solyndra, Inc. announced today that it is the first company to receive an offer for a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Solyndra, a Fremont, California-based manufacturer of innovative cylindrical photovoltaic systems, will use the proceeds of a $535 million loan from the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank to expand its solar panel manufacturing capacity in California. “The leadership and actions of President Barack Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the U.S. Congress were instrumental in concluding this offer for a loan guarantee,” said Solyndra CEO and founder, Dr. Chris Gronet.
Hello, the program was during the previous administration, not Barry's.
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Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Solyndra in connection with this loan guarantee application.
Receive. Act was done in 05 but no buddy got anything?
No, probably because they didn't qualify or apply. It does say it's a long comprehensive process, but 5 years is a bit extreme. Thanks Goldman Sachs and Barry for helping this company (that hires illegals that couldn't pass a security screening?) develop green / solar products ...
As Solyndra's own CEO points out in an open letter response to the audit, Solyndra's future does depend on finding more financing, either through an IPO or privately. If it doesn't, the leading question about what happens to revolutionary companies that fail, at the top of this post, will get an answer. When big expectations lead to big disappointments, entire industries can be affected.
The White House blog, by contrast, proudly trumpets the fact that Solyndra's closure was averted by a $535 million dollar loan from the Department of Energy last year.
Interesting. Seems Solyndra was previously represented by Price Waterhouse Cooper -
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"The company has suffered recurring losses from operations, negative cash flows since inception and has a net stockholders' deficit that, among other factors, raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern," PricewaterhouseCoopers wrote in the filing.
The company’s auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a letter filed as an addendum to Solyndra’s S-1 IPO registration, that “the Company has suffered recurring losses from operations, negative cash flows since inception and has a net stockholders’ deficit that, among other factors, raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”
...
"I’m not troubled by the 'going concern' notice, I’m more troubled by the fact that they raised $933 million and are out of cash," Murr said. "But raising another $300 million in an IPO registration, the question is does that get them to profitability or not?”
The Department of Energy said as of January 12, Solyndra had only received $25 million of their $535 million loan, provided by the Federal Finance Bank. The Department of Energy guaranteed the loan but Solyndra has to meet certain milestones to draw the entire amount.
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