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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.5 p4 O6 J5 `% F- o% Z. o
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Every office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.4 _% J' h5 N+ F' g7 r3 m$ e( M2 X
/ u/ d u- x* ~$ {1 w! ~Twenty-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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8 E7 Q% k* r- z" V+ ?( U1 p3 |It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.
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4 [& B" N/ u5 N/ q/ H# iNo hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.$ C# k, n8 x+ |0 [+ i
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In fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.
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* h1 A4 M" y7 w"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.
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- z* p* c& s5 U1 \$ M"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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) x3 o3 h( p2 {$ G! e( JThe recent delays and cancellations of oilsands projects - a major income source for Finning - was not a factor in the layoffs, Hunt said.$ s2 P, I+ E; y# R8 b: o
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"We're still very busy in the oilsands."
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.- s- W6 J3 |" q# x! j: n
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They will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.4 _" |# z" B( C
3 M# H7 q$ k% R* OThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.
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6 u9 ^' x9 ^# G3 j6 dMike 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.
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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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Finning 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.
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c O7 L% u8 I& N: o4 lIts 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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