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.

. p! |) t" s+ [/ Q# l4 j: eThe 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.

9 C) F! T2 s& z/ g" ?3 H7 ]4 i* iIt is not known which of the company's facilities will be touched by the layoffs.

0 O' b3 B9 @* L; M+ P4 }- \( k- qEmployees in Quebec received the information about the job cuts on Wednesday.
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: Q! i" I! T: I6 p4 u# N, CThey were told that it could be months before the company decides on the extent and locations of the layoffs.

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.
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) G- t6 ~1 K" M9 j/ ?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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, N" r% a* }- L5 ^/ {/ C! c9 WLast year, the company also won a major contract to provide more efficient PW810 engines for the Cessna Citation Columbus large business jet.
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0 [6 o3 w. g/ l% kPratt & Whitney Canada is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, a high-technology company based in Hartford, Conn.