One hundred workers who manufacture mining truck bodies in Melbourne are the latest victims of the high Australian dollar, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) says.
AMWU national secretary Dave Oliver said 60 full-time Caterpillar employees and a further 40 labour hire workers have been told operations will cease at Tullamarine on December 15.
He said the company had told workers it had made this decision because it had run out of warehouse space.
However, he said it believed the rising Australian dollar had influenced its decision.
"Despite being a profitable operation making vehicles in demand by the mining industry, Caterpillar has announced it will instead import the equipment from Mexico," Mr Oliver said on Monday.
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"If we let our manufacturing base decline, it will be a disaster when the mining boom ends, as it eventually will."
Mr Oliver said greater government action to support manufacturing was in Australia's long-term interests.
"We need more government action to sustain our manufacturing base so that when the boom ends, we have not lost a vital part of our economy and the jobs and skills it sustains," he said.
Comment was being sought from Caterpillar Australia.
