61.   Fisher said the company had studied the prospect for staff reductions for some time and has already decided which sites would be affected.

62.   In a statement the companies said be some staff reductions would follow the merger.

63.   In addition, possible staff reductions would be extremely politically sensitive in this strike-prone country.

64.   In Austria, Germany, Colombia and other countries, local laws protect locally hired employees, so staff reductions affect only American personnel.

65.   It said it hoped to make the staff reductions through a combination of voluntary departures, natural turnover and redeployment of staff to other locations.

66.   It said the plan includes closing some professional services offices and that the staff reductions will impact professional services employees.

67.   It was not immediately clear whether the staff reduction will be fully carried out under the new pact.

68.   Nevertheless, the money never came, making further staff reductions in the New Year inevitable.

69.   One worker said she had not heard about any staff reductions, but she declined further comment and would not give her name.

70.   Raiser said further staff reductions were likely next year to meet balanced budget requirements.