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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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- y! V [! V& BEvery office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.( c8 V3 C: |: B+ P0 I2 e
, f! k; e! k# x: m* V& B4 R8 `6 VTwenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.' l( k8 f1 R1 u4 W* ?% @% g
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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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. v, _: L- Q# b& ?' MIt brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.* t1 m8 \ q; W) h- c
# F. x9 w" Z1 W; T! r: b4 u' pNo hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.& [, S3 s# u' H
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In fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.7 T' h' T1 U2 p/ v4 L' t/ B
, D1 K3 {1 t5 t0 Q) D; V"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 t+ Y! G$ ^; V& B( l, q
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"It's our customers who are going to get us through this, and that's the last place we want to cut."" f4 k" z7 l! J! b
! u) }# \, x7 q5 E7 ]The recent delays and cancellations of oilsands projects - a major income source for Finning - was not a factor in the layoffs, Hunt said." K( U! v, K6 u- c1 R" H. D
0 j7 P' y6 N# q8 K- I& ^"We're still very busy in the oilsands."0 S) a& {0 z* K/ T h
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.! q2 ^8 m0 E/ H) \+ U$ w
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They will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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' }% l* z- Y3 P: m+ y! T# f2 y; WThe 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.5 w0 n" J2 \; Y1 s1 l
7 p1 c2 X0 P3 [ g4 H. j# B8 hDemand 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.. [% Q0 t" F; C. V& D6 L
S+ `9 j$ E: R# jFinning 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 $1.33 billion a year before.2 }+ U! s$ A; N& r! p$ y2 V
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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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