Manitoba Hydro has almost reached its goal to reduce staff as the Crown corporation tries to decrease its billion dollar debt.
On Thursday, Hydro said 857 employees have applied for its voluntary departure program, and of those 818 have been approved.
Earlier this year as part of its cost cutting measures, Hydro announced it would be cutting 900 jobs, offering buy-outs to staff.
The Crown corporation said about 28 per cent of the employees will leave in June and 50 per cent will leave in January 2018. It said the remaining staff departures will be spread out between July and December.
Hydro also said some applications “were rejected in order to maintain appropriate levels in certain areas where a very high percentage of people in a specific job or trade applied.”
They said there were also some employees that submitted a departure claim who were ineligible to apply.
The Crown corporation’s debt currently stands at $13 billion. In February, Hydro said that could reach to around $25 billion in the next few years.
