Money world

MONTREAL–Ski-Doo and Sea-Doo manufacturer Bombardier Recreational says it is cutting its workforce by nearly 1,000 as it slashes production by 20 per cent to respond to the global recession.

The privately held company – partly owned by the family that owns a big stake in plane and train maker Bombardier Inc. – said 550 administrative "white-collar jobs" will be cut starting this month.

Another 430 shop floor "blue-collar workers" will be laid off temporarily. That’s on top of 370 workers laid off in October.

It wasn’t immediately known where the cuts would fall at Bombardier Recreational, which has operations in Canada, the United States, Europe, Mexico and China.

Founded by Joseph-Armand Bombardier a few years after his creation of a tracked vehicle in 1937, BRP employs about 6,500 people around the world.

The company now makes a variety of vehicles ranging from the Ski-Doo snowmobiles, Sea-Doo personal watercraft, Evinrude and Johnson outboard motors, Spyder three-wheel highway cycles and Can-Am four-wheel all-terrain vehicles and Rotax engines affordable car insurance.

The Quebec-based company said it is cutting expenses to a minimum and implementing major changes to the organization as the power sports industry gets hit hard by tough global economic times.

CEO Jose Boisjoli said the measures to reduce costs will make the company "less vulnerable to drastic declines in revenues caused by events outside our control, such as the current crisis."

The corporate reorganization will create new divisions focused on engines and vehicle development.

Engine manufacturing will continue at plants in Austria, Mexico, Wisconsin and China. Vehicles will be manufactured in Valcourt, Que., Benton, Ill., and Mexico.

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