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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。
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! j; p- B3 |; S! ^Finning Canada has laid off 160 salaried staff in Alberta and B.C. as sales of Caterpillar equipment slows in the economic downturn.
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$ X w, I6 ^. v' M- yEvery office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.$ v7 s9 e# |3 v; u" u4 c/ i
/ F6 h ~4 p3 I* x: q" P, i8 pTwenty-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.- J6 |, p) R3 s
; L" B$ _0 `5 C! B" C0 RIt brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.5 y$ W2 g+ t4 n, e& U
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No hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.8 q; r/ D, b/ c% L
, x: V b: E; w% y/ b+ kIn fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.$ B x0 j: o9 I' _+ s# D
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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."
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. z; L- s4 | ]: J# @9 M5 _/ g' D# wThe 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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/ P5 a8 N4 m4 s% F1 M9 o& h( g"We're still very busy in the oilsands."
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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.8 l0 o' y/ h, [; q" k1 e# A
' m8 q( R% t: v* v9 [+ RThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.4 p1 G9 ^- h$ P0 M& U& Z6 } o+ l
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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.! d M0 U2 `3 y3 E8 k% B) {9 i
* V$ }* A8 i/ V, |7 F QDemand 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.7 ^# T# i/ d2 n
; m' @0 A, y5 E9 e% V8 GFinning 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 $1.33 billion a year before.+ ]8 O; c2 Q: A* f0 q$ L
b4 S4 U- `; Z$ YIts 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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