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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。! P4 _: }# |1 b" Z
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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.' e6 T6 _+ i- v+ q8 m7 Z7 a5 u
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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.7 R8 ?# q K; I9 a4 E8 B
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.
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6 F9 X& L) H( e6 T6 n7 x! i# ]' m"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.; c. `, U5 }' u; _
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It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.6 Y8 A! i, d7 z; W! @
& m" R8 r* t# i5 s4 S' BNo hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.
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In 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.
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- L6 m& _" S1 U"It's our customers who are going to get us through this, and that's the last place we want to cut."- @) ]0 z* V: e$ f7 e1 P& g
, a2 y* Q& V) ^The 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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"We're still very busy in the oilsands."8 f9 s4 k6 u' G! M) F3 [
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.
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; P! }1 r. U) I3 F& XThey will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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3 b! e* W0 O; o$ O- l1 b* QThe 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.' s- Y4 B) X& y1 q$ p
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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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8 ?: z5 {8 X f/ X6 xFinning 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.. y7 _) O3 g/ g- c
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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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