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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。0 h* u" s: ?) l" K" U7 q
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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.. F9 [8 |* `6 [* B' w
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.! o9 E) x6 n- `6 N1 T
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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.- S, s) V+ P- s4 p( Q
: ?$ S* O0 U6 b- i: ?& |" MIt brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.0 w. t# v# y6 G) F
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No hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.) I0 I' a2 [' Z! ^
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In fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.$ [9 X& k: W' s! {1 I- u
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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.
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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."
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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.
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- |5 D/ R& i9 s% v"We're still very busy in the oilsands."% d0 s$ y U$ r* s. x' @
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.
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They will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.) e& {& Q* n! d/ _ X5 A
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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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2 Z2 \/ k4 T+ eMike 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.2 P! q( ~0 y5 y0 T5 B
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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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^8 O+ g/ X5 w1 |! AFinning 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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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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