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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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Every office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.; F1 {8 u4 W5 A9 q; W5 [$ u
% ` I, P6 C- r# a0 h! L& t+ @Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.
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j5 z1 _/ B; A4 _$ f) W5 x"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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, h- K0 x4 I' Z- F; tIt brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300. B) ~. L! m A4 J+ T
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No hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected., B% y; R2 \7 H9 f/ ]* u) ], d
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In 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.6 C! F3 G# X4 ~/ |3 O
) N+ h6 r+ c: p2 M8 Q: P$ ]/ C"It's our customers who are going to get us through this, and that's the last place we want to cut."8 w' K, R1 Y4 e, m4 M0 M, G4 J# r
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The recent delays and cancellations of oilsands projects - a major income source for Finning - was not a factor in the layoffs, Hunt said." F8 P A T" E
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"We're still very busy in the oilsands."+ G# f( W6 W* F
2 a o( U' b: ]# Z2 ?Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.0 E( X# E/ q" d, O9 `3 g% Z
9 h" K- P! p8 |. W' LThey will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.! U1 X# J, P R8 h' _; W* j. [4 h
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The employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.
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Mike 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.2 R% u0 Y" L4 S
3 t5 X' n! ?+ ~- \! [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./ J2 ]2 z( V4 K; a8 F* i- a% |
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Its 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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