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.

9 j( C( ]4 K/ B+ _0 `$ w7 DThe 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.
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& y6 T+ F( }$ F, D: n- PIt is not known which of the company's facilities will be touched by the layoffs.

4 a- ~* R( j5 {( ?+ DEmployees in Quebec received the information about the job cuts on Wednesday.
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' d9 R6 ?  l9 P+ G5 X- R- _5 aThey were told that it could be months before the company decides on the extent and locations of the layoffs.
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% J, A. ]* p* e% SSources have indicated to Radio-Canada that the division that makes jet engines for business planes could be affected.
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3 Y" J% u6 H5 O9 ~5 RPratt & 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.

/ L$ g1 e7 f( [. MNews 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.

8 u9 ^1 {0 \' R# X0 W2 kLast 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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  Y& @7 }( B! x7 @1 y5 hPratt & Whitney Canada is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, a high-technology company based in Hartford, Conn.