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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.
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1 H3 C* t& G3 ? ~0 vEvery office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.: G9 D9 e: X4 t. b0 q/ P3 Y- L
& S. f' y+ u1 P; Z" y% r' d% H/ Z) LTwenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.1 Q1 I& {* X6 {2 y. O- l' ^& ^
6 X9 _5 L* ?- x"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.% W( x/ m- J; n& D
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It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.
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9 ^2 C0 W. s2 n2 Y5 {# KNo hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.
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, u& q2 t: P; IIn fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.
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; C* h5 |: {1 H2 G"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.1 Y+ o$ V0 L3 W: h! w! E/ a
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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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3 s) }$ G) I9 r. B, _% L$ aThe 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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" a% K5 Q/ l P6 M1 Q"We're still very busy in the oilsands."0 T9 @5 _: H9 u/ W
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.7 R: y5 j: f+ Y I
" R/ V5 f9 J( @. F2 MThey will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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1 u8 d) R9 z7 G( z, dThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.
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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.
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& C% d, J+ j$ r. K! BDemand 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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- G+ V9 O6 ^, X, u* ~% s) C% w' N3 ]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.+ v v3 i" _3 n! v9 S
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Its 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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