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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。$ c3 Z. D4 D, z
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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.6 H6 ^$ k8 C; e5 ?! P6 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.
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.' Y: @# A1 A* |- L
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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.4 g% u3 T3 E5 ^ l
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It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.2 K h$ E7 ^0 m# _* U
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No hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.% r9 c8 I" v7 v- k
$ P+ Z$ A9 W' n' o- hIn fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.+ P* _3 f" C6 b6 k7 ~6 ^' ^1 b
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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 r% T5 P: r- N& j4 i
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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."- W8 \( N1 j7 [- {% Q
$ d) V" b0 `+ F2 j. B; U/ w9 |% }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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8 R4 S. {2 e, O3 B, Z- y6 C$ J"We're still very busy in the oilsands."0 X! R; \* v' x* f
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas., G0 {+ P- s# y9 I
# O2 v( n/ R; UThey will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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* e; ? C$ r+ tThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.
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) |8 J' |0 H8 t9 fMike 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.' Z/ o% ^6 h, q/ @ |/ c
3 P" p0 u! C, Y9 Z3 x6 OFinning 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 k* K* j( T& t* |
; l+ B/ h7 F. J0 TIts 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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