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.

! }0 C3 |1 y6 c2 g) V3 FThe 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.

* d! Q5 U$ e; {7 F+ m, G- r4 h& SIt is not known which of the company's facilities will be touched by the layoffs.

# z: d0 @( k' |4 L% O# v3 ~$ yEmployees in Quebec received the information about the job cuts on Wednesday.
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. ^. H% F, D$ M/ z9 k. N$ \They were told that it could be months before the company decides on the extent and locations of the layoffs.
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5 w9 f* g( e) F/ dSources have indicated to Radio-Canada that the division that makes jet engines for business planes could be affected.

  g- E8 B! F# |# C% R4 P& ~* d+ RPratt & 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.

% r$ X% K7 A: D8 \6 ^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.

* t# b7 v2 _; A" m4 j! T$ kLast year, the company also won a major contract to provide more efficient PW810 engines for the Cessna Citation Columbus large business jet.

; N2 Z" E. _4 `2 M1 [Pratt & Whitney Canada is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, a high-technology company based in Hartford, Conn.