首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The wave of job cuts sweeping through the utility sector gathered pace yesterday with 800 more redundancies planned by two elect
The wave of job cuts sweeping through the utility sector gathered pace yesterday with 800 more redundancies planned by two elect
admin
2012-12-30
27
问题
The wave of job cuts sweeping through the utility sector gathered pace yesterday with 800 more redundancies planned by two electricity groups joining forces in order to meet regulator’s price demands and improve efficiency.
Trade unions expressed anger that the announcement by two foreign-owned utilities, London Electricity and Eastern Electricity, came during the period immediately before Christmas. They noted that it arrived on the back of nearly 1,300 other job losses in this sector since early October.
Half of the 160,000jobs in the electricity sector have gone since privatization in 1988.
More than 2,000 redundancies have also been announced recently by water companies, and more are expected from United Utilities as they, too, seek to meet tougher regulatory targets.
Not everyone in the industry is convinced that the current spate of job cuts in the utility sector is justified.
One leading industry executive, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "I am very concerned that companies are using the regulators’ price cut as an excuse for carrying out general cuts that they have wanted to do for some time. It is causing disquiet among utilities customers."
If regulatory approval is given London Electricity—a unit of Electricite de France—and Eastern Electricity, controlled by American conglomerate Texas Utilities, will form a joint venture from April 1, 2000, which will run their respective electricity distribution businesses.
The companies will continue to compete on the supply and billing side of their operations but hope the new alliance will be able to win third party business, whether in electricity or other sectors such as gas.
The 800 job losses mean a quarter of the jobs affected by the joint venture will be lost within 18 months, and that the remaining positions will be dependant on the general level of business activity.
The two companies plan to achieve cost savings through fewer workers, having a single information system, a smaller number of buildings and buying more in bulk.
Phil Turbeville, chief executive of Texas Utilities’ TXS Europe subsidiary, said: "It is the responsible management response to the challenges of the tough price control while delivering further improvements in customer service.
He added that customers would benefit because lower costs meant more money available for new investment, and denied that the decision could have been made at a better time or would have been different if it had not been a foreign owned group.
"Whether we told staff just before Christmas or just after it would have been the same. There is no good time to make redundancies. As you can see from what Scottish-based utilities have been doing, this is nothing to do with Paris or Texas. It is just prudent management," Mr. Turbeville said.
From early October,about_____people have lost their jobs in utility sector.
选项
A、800
B、160,000
C、1300
D、2100
答案
C
解析
答案见第二段最后一句。注意词组on the back of,意思是“紧随着”,答案选C。注意不要把第一段提到的800人加进去,第一段说到他们时使用了“planned”,意思是还没有实现。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/pjaO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、itbelievedthatthebookswereanabhorrencetoGodB、itbelievedthatthebookswouldweakenthecommunicationwithGodC、it
IntheUnitedStates,charterschoolsprovidealternativesto"regular"publicschools.Unlikemostpublicschools,chartersdon
WhichofthefollowingdoesnotbelongtoShakespeare’sromanticlovecomedies?
Oneofthestrangestthingsaboutdisputeoveradvertisingisthatthegreaterthefussthemuchofamysterytheindustryitsel
Beguninthelate1960sbyPentagonweaponsresearchersasasystemforeasingcommunicationbetweencomputersindisparateelec
FrustratedwithdelaysinSacramento,BayAreaofficialssaidThursdaytheyplannedtotakemattersintotheirownhandstoregu
SevenTypesofEvidenceItisimportanttolearntouseevidenceinargumentativewriting,becausewithoutevidence,youcan’t
Airpollutionexistsnotonlyoutdoor,butalsoindoor.Ithasgreateffectsonpeople,andtherearemanymeasurestakentocor
AbreakthroughintheprovisionofenergyfromthesunfortheEuropeanEconomicCommunity(EEC)couldbebroughtforwardbyup
WhichofthefollowingstatementsconcerningmodernlinguisticsisNOTcorrect?
随机试题
下列哪项不属于脐部疾患发生的原因
患者,男性,27岁。自去年冬季以来每日发生空腹痛,进食后疼痛缓解。平时伴有恶心、打嗝、反酸,查体在剑突右侧有局限压痛,无反跳痛。经胃镜确诊为十二指肠溃疡。目前认为与该病发病有关的细菌是
合伙型合作企业双方的权利义务关系如何确定?()关于日方拒绝承担企业债务这一问题,下列说法正确的有()。
背景资料:某施工单位承接了某二级公路的普通水泥混凝土路面施工项目,合同段总长36km,路面结构层为15cm厚级配碎石底基层、20cm厚水泥稳定碎石基层、24cm厚水泥混凝土面层,采用轨道摊铺机摊铺施工,钢材、水泥供应厂家由建设单位指定,施工单位对基层和面
()是指因政治方面的各种事件和原因而导致企业蒙受意外损失。
(2018年)某企业只生产H产品,完工产品与在产品成本按定额比例法进行分配,其中直接材料成本按照材料定额消耗量比例分配,直接人工成本和制造费用按照定额工时比例分配。2017年11月初在产品成本为:直接材料35000元,直接人工10000元.制造费用12
在Excel中如果光标在单元格地址C4中,那么光标位丁工作表的()。
某大学组织学术研讨会,邀请该校教师和学生共10人参加。10位参会人员的学历为4位本科、4位硕士和2位博士。已知参会人员有7位男性,3位女性;博士不都是学生,也不都是女性;所有的硕士学生都是男性,所有的博士学生都不是男性;只有一位男教师学历是本料,只有一位女
Wheredoestheconversationmostprobablytakeplace?
【B1】【B2】
最新回复
(
0
)