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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.6 F% b1 Y( u) 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.
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.
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4 P# P7 b' o; m3 T' K: J"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.8 u5 F1 `6 G4 {. T/ u
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It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.7 O" A. t6 v9 S. N& C8 B
) A8 {, b K! ?No hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.7 G+ e/ h6 @) C$ A- ]" C- v. \
/ [0 d) ?2 P3 y6 q- ~5 ~* uIn fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.
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9 |0 C$ `. O3 E8 ~! O3 X"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.6 b1 G2 B! v1 ]6 M& u* h5 F, A2 K$ \
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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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' @! f# y3 o4 Z- K4 o$ ]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."
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.' k& O, T4 |/ G0 H4 x$ ~2 [
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They will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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" \/ _- O0 F7 V CThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.: B6 t; p2 i! @- P/ K) [) p- B0 d, O
3 i1 K, M" R) M: gMike 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.% i/ B% L) k/ p0 R% L+ U$ M! _
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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.* M" K! s& Q/ Z+ z
, @: e% } ]1 h; x% M4 BFinning 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.5 K! N* K6 H% G& E4 A
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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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