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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。
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Finning Canada has laid off 160 salaried staff in Alberta and B.C. as sales of Caterpillar equipment slows in the economic downturn.8 y" t0 d8 c1 t- L$ ]
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Every office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.2 |5 {. Y9 \# @0 {; i
5 B3 c/ H4 K5 ? G' K"It's the toughest decision we have to make in our business life, and it's been a hard few days for us," Hunt said.
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( e, Z7 l* r( UIt brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.
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# A5 x3 h) ~7 a& VNo hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.* U: E9 |2 p/ x6 F* a$ A! ~" ~
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In fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.
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"That's the paradoxical thing. Even though things are changing, Fort McMurray (Alta.) is still growing, and we need more people up there," he said.
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"It's our customers who are going to get us through this, and that's the last place we want to cut."9 W9 [6 h: g3 v" Q8 b; h- y# B
" a, \5 V6 L. [, p( r0 [5 [The recent delays and cancellations of oilsands projects - a major income source for Finning - was not a factor in the layoffs, Hunt said.
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6 T9 G7 @5 I2 W( N- o% r8 k1 U"We're still very busy in the oilsands."1 \1 N! T/ t6 t# t, K7 k& P- t7 a2 f
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.
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They will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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The employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.: _0 f/ ]) O( n x7 E5 a
) X. z- W ^) v2 h$ @7 U! tMike Waites, CEO of Vancouver-based parent company Finning International Inc., recently lowered the 2008 earnings guidance due to a slowdown in some of its businesses in Western Canada and the United Kingdom.- t8 M$ J w- H$ G' \
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Demand for new equipment will likely soften and some purchases may be deferred, but that will result in an increase in its parts and service business - Finning's most profitable business - he said.- w' G! @' K8 ~: s5 M# \
' y, W# ~$ }2 Y6 h& J8 kFinning reported third-quarter net income of $64.8 million compared to $63.6 million for the same quarter last year. Revenues were a record $1.46 billion, compared to $1.33 billion a year before.
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! e5 p, v6 H. Y0 m, fIts order backlog has also grown to a new record of $2 billion, dominated by mining equipment, "and provides good revenue visibility for 2009 and into 2010," Waites said. |
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