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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.% ]6 f4 v% Y+ S& Y6 i5 D: V/ x! a3 E
7 }* M- p+ @: E; J; f1 sEvery 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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# z0 p& z! ] h1 O7 y8 |Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.
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"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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7 \! l. {4 V) L `8 _$ ~& _It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.
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No hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.0 E2 ?/ I$ I D) A- f
) A: _! w& s" U- IIn fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.
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+ m$ L& h) s2 n! k2 ~1 a"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.( I$ l2 g5 ~) h1 b1 D/ o
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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."
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The recent delays and cancellations of oilsands projects - a major income source for Finning - was not a factor in the layoffs, Hunt said.5 @' m# s( g/ G' J
3 F6 b4 K7 q5 w$ t" H: e+ V"We're still very busy in the oilsands."2 a6 V2 G. Q# A/ x
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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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- }* d! Z% ~) d5 G2 lThey will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.% n' C: a) N% ~# v
! K+ l" Z8 r2 f, K; CThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.. C3 x5 i( V; M; w6 L& i+ w
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Mike 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.) i( D( S) @+ p' @
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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.
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Finning 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.+ B0 A0 j7 i3 y7 u% X- u
' T6 h8 W, f9 ]' {) j' CIts 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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