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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。8 ^' }# B* {! G1 @
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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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# M5 ]2 Y8 q, h- O! jEvery office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.
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' e3 {$ T# J) ` s( ^" c9 \"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.$ s( p8 h5 W. b
4 p( F9 e+ p+ g8 o: F; L5 MIt brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.- V6 f, D5 Y6 }' `) m8 A1 r; D
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No hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.* H7 b" i3 ]5 o" l c
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In fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.( [5 Z0 I; J4 t/ 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."+ }8 U8 a5 G, O$ y2 Z
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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.) y* u! ` m7 c- M/ g2 a
1 \. n A3 f5 o$ @* ]"We're still very busy in the oilsands.". t9 t5 T8 j! V6 ^
) F/ M- }7 z; P7 A- RHunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.
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6 N# X. q/ J$ q1 z/ u% E, nThey will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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' o. k! {+ h* n' p: [$ Y" CThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.* l9 F. X) ~- A2 p# [" \' J
1 n" K: u& o6 F! N% OMike 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.! o1 v, s6 K( S9 I: v' G
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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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