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
2010-05-14
89
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 160,000 jobs 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、1,300
D、2,100
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/uIlO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
AppleandGooglejustcan’tstandtobeapart.AppleCEOSteveJobsannouncedthisweekthatAppleTVwillsoonplayYouTubevid
ForalmostsixyearsLyleCraker,aresearcherwhostudiesmedicinalplantsattheUniversityofMassachusetts,hasbeentrying
A、BeforePresidentVladimirPutinwasquotedyesterday.B、WhenUSimplementsitsplantobuildamissiledefenseshieldnearRus
ThisiswhatAfricahasinabundance,space,almost12millionsquaremilesofdesert,savanna,coastline,andpeople,700milli
Luandawasbuiltbythe【B1】______onasweepingbayoverthe【B2】______.Itiscertainlynot"【B3】______"today.Inthecity
Luandawasbuiltbythe【B1】______onasweepingbayoverthe【B2】______.Itiscertainlynot"【B3】______"today.Inthecity
Luandawasbuiltbythe【B1】______onasweepingbayoverthe【B2】______.Itiscertainlynot"【B3】______"today.Inthecity
InBolivia,lifeisslowlyreturningtonormalafteralmostamonthofdemonstrations.【C1】______—frompoorpeasantfarmerstomi
InBolivia,lifeisslowlyreturningtonormalafteralmostamonthofdemonstrations.【C1】______—frompoorpeasantfarmerstomi
Beowulf,thefirstcompleteliteralworkofBritain,waswritteninthe_________century.
随机试题
乙烯、丙烯属于有机化工基本化工原料。()
肝硬化患者蛋白质营养治疗措施中错误的有
目前尚无特异性预防内毒素感染的措施,原因是内毒素
下列除哪项外,均为细菌生长繁殖的条件
患者,男,30岁。左上唇挫裂伤后形成楔状缺损。其范围约为上唇的1/5。以下处理原则中,错误的是
监理工程师受业主委托对物资供应进度进行控制时,其工作内容包括( )。
转关运输的进口货物,如属许可证管理商品,其许可证应按下列哪种规定校验()
鉴于对出口的严重__________,中国的实体经济将不可避免地受到全球经济下滑的__________。但是经济危机也给中国带来新的机会,它在经历了危机的__________后会变得更强。填入划横线部分最恰当的一项是:
CD-ROM是
BabyBodyLanguageI.Fistinmouth—Indicationa)Hungry:ruledoutifthebabyhasbeenfedb)Teething:ruledoutifthebaby
最新回复
(
0
)