Layoffs coming at jet maker Pratt & Whitney

newlife

Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney Canada is poised to lay off as many as 1,000 employees worldwide in the coming months.

1 q& e5 P" Z# {The company employs 10,000 people around the world, including 7,000 people in Canada. Most of the company's workforce is in the province of Quebec.
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* [, I# X2 p! U: ?! VIt is not known which of the company's facilities will be touched by the layoffs.

Employees in Quebec received the information about the job cuts on Wednesday.

* R  U3 Q  k) P7 cThey were told that it could be months before the company decides on the extent and locations of the layoffs.
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Sources have indicated to Radio-Canada that the division that makes jet engines for business planes could be affected.
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Pratt & Whitney Canada makes jets for Bombardier and Cessna, two airplane makers that have announced their own cuts due to a slowdown in the aerospace industry.

* D- G4 j' f, D1 F5 \News of layoffs comes just months after Pratt & Whitney Canada announced a $575.3 million plant in Mirabel, north of Montreal. The plant is supposed to assemble and test cleaner, quieter and more efficient jet engines, creating 565 jobs.
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2 j/ g4 q# o$ Q4 hLast year, the company also won a major contract to provide more efficient PW810 engines for the Cessna Citation Columbus large business jet.

Pratt & Whitney Canada is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, a high-technology company based in Hartford, Conn.