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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。" _8 X v# ]' C ?3 l, g/ l
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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.
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.
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+ n+ E, o+ ~! g"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 ^: g; L/ l, v2 _It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300./ Q4 K% S$ y! V" ~" a: o- U
, p9 y, w9 ?7 iNo hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.7 e+ R7 u7 X5 i* q: Y, E
: E+ ^5 A4 }8 O- WIn fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.5 T! o$ y9 v! Y8 c% r+ I% f
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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.8 P% m5 V1 w* W8 L2 w% X
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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."4 c' T" S3 H9 k' N2 V
$ m2 T" Z& L% C- I. P5 q7 i. OThe 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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$ s9 F# T* p3 O/ N/ E& ]"We're still very busy in the oilsands.") b+ n- e6 q6 v; I6 M
7 R. `+ o% i% P- B" `Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.* v* H9 Y# L+ J3 ?7 G- h
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They will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.: b+ M* v: b, j# t5 |0 ]6 C$ a% K
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The employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.& t; X5 s' G, z3 [
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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.9 c* |, ^0 W( u+ Y8 \: v
( R; S$ h* m B! E% mDemand 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.1 B6 }& ~+ B O( G8 h
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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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2 K% Q6 R' |, b! b3 _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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