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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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4 B; v: N0 P4 |. B% }" |/ KEvery 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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( M0 D- `# Y' p4 C WTwenty-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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It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.
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9 x0 E- O4 R2 r, {$ DNo hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.+ W: o, m" `/ G% J# I. A: l8 O
) P4 @7 R5 {6 }* |( D$ T9 lIn 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., B# {7 ?; f3 i: A
, t4 s; }& e7 c+ N5 \5 i. V7 F5 ^/ }+ _"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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! Q; |* \6 a6 cThe recent delays and cancellations of oilsands projects - a major income source for Finning - was not a factor in the layoffs, Hunt said.6 A/ i1 r: K, ?5 |( G J6 ^: Y1 [
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"We're still very busy in the oilsands.": c6 C) c3 i; m; b- c& s2 t
) F4 W( G: B: MHunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.* d7 }/ s9 S& h* `3 S5 z5 V7 K
8 i8 H" D, | d* O5 d0 Y, q8 ]They will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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6 R/ x* x- X. bThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.
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3 v) p4 C ~) y) j9 hMike 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.( r% I+ H* z: I8 y0 |
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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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2 b8 p! B) k: R7 F/ z1 ZFinning 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 $1.33 billion a year before." U; D' S0 C) l9 O$ S
9 r7 k$ _0 `* tIts 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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