Layoffs coming at jet maker Pratt & Whitney

newlife

Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney Canada is poised to lay off as many as 1,000 employees worldwide in the coming months.
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* R) r/ ^( {$ o$ k0 E" A- v0 N- ]8 WThe company employs 10,000 people around the world, including 7,000 people in Canada. Most of the company's workforce is in the province of Quebec.

7 e9 z) R! d1 |' ^9 V, c/ V3 KIt is not known which of the company's facilities will be touched by the layoffs.

Employees in Quebec received the information about the job cuts on Wednesday.

( R# M0 R3 E% i2 o$ X; VThey were told that it could be months before the company decides on the extent and locations of the layoffs.

+ f! E6 j9 O- j* CSources have indicated to Radio-Canada that the division that makes jet engines for business planes could be affected.
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2 @7 P! n7 ]; q; K) \: pPratt & Whitney Canada makes jets for Bombardier and Cessna, two airplane makers that have announced their own cuts due to a slowdown in the aerospace industry.

0 A. I9 h$ o3 D4 n0 a* J+ ZNews of layoffs comes just months after Pratt & Whitney Canada announced a $575.3 million plant in Mirabel, north of Montreal. The plant is supposed to assemble and test cleaner, quieter and more efficient jet engines, creating 565 jobs.

% Z  Q7 e4 G3 yLast year, the company also won a major contract to provide more efficient PW810 engines for the Cessna Citation Columbus large business jet.
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, T' e: {- i: g+ z+ K& L/ mPratt & Whitney Canada is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, a high-technology company based in Hartford, Conn.