Windsor: Bracing for the blow
Apprehensive — Connie Wardwell works at the House Of Windsor coffeehouse and soda fountain. Restaurant owners in Windsor worry about the loss of business should Vestas shrink its workforce in town.
Now a stylist at Lookin' Good Salon, Weber worries about similar hardship in this town if threatened job cuts at Vestas were to occur.
"It affects everybody, not just them," she said.
In a town weary from job losses, residents have grown anxious amid threats by Danish wind turbine maker Vestas to cut 1,600 manufacturing jobs. The only way to avoid the cuts, the company said last month, is if Congress extends a wind tax credit that is set to expire by the end of the year. As the largest employer in Windsor, Vestas employs 750 workers at its blade factory on the east side of town.
Residents often compare the situation to the closing of parts of Eastman Kodak's plant. The town still has not recovered from the hundreds of jobs it lost, in addition to rising unemployment in other sectors, residents say.
Vestas employees work throughout northern Colorado from Longmont to Fort Collins and Windsor, Town Manager Kelly Arnold said.
"They have such a large employment base in the region, it's going to be more of a regional impact than just Windsor,"
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