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.

6 [  a. A0 U8 I1 N' dThe 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.

It is not known which of the company's facilities will be touched by the layoffs.

) @- T" J8 O: m! z% ^4 G/ b) EEmployees in Quebec received the information about the job cuts on Wednesday.

% r" g: i- O3 e' RThey 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.

& r7 ?  ]6 n" Y$ H6 i2 [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.

, g1 v% ]. e0 o# t5 a/ `0 LNews 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.

. H' g, t! G* X) l4 @. O5 V6 PLast 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.