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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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Every office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.; c- d0 |1 }# p" D- s
: [5 U2 ], T. p$ t x' UTwenty-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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1 F, E4 z" S; |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.
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( @: \- M& v( T8 q' G' cIn fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.
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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.1 D; S5 s3 s/ c8 T
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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."( Q+ t+ ` ~# F) Q% _
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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.! V0 S! o( `8 R6 X0 c
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"We're still very busy in the oilsands."
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# z0 [1 D, O% j. X0 ~Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.2 z! M1 W1 h0 ?; j
, j- m2 u, ~- C# c. d: GThey will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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The employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said. L7 p2 _5 y" `1 w4 L8 g
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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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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.
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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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