More jobs are set to go defence shipbuilder ASC in Adelaide with more than 90 production workers likely to be made redundant.
The company says with the recent completion of the second air warfare destroyer and progress on the third and final ship well advanced, it has become necessary to reduce the workforce.
"Today's announcement starts a minimum six-week consultation process with the enterprise agreement workforce, ahead of the possible redundancy of up to 93 production employees," ASC said in a statement.
"As part of this process, voluntary redundancy packages will also be offered."
ASC said no workers would finish with the company on Monday and it might be able to reduce the number of redundancies if redeployment opportunities were identified in the coming weeks.
It said it was also possible that many former shipbuilding workers would have the opportunity to return to the company to work on the frigates program slated to begin in 2020.
AMWU assistant national secretary Glenn Thompson said the latest job losses were likely to include 75 electricians, eight mechanical fitters and six sheet metal workers.
He said the cuts exposed as "worthless" promises from the federal government to save shipbuilding jobs.
"We need some urgent leadership to secure these jobs and make sure there are sufficient skilled and experienced workers at ASC to kick-start shipbuilding once the new work begins," Mr Thompson said.
"Now we have the situation where experienced shipbuilders are being forced out at a time when the industry is about to gear up for the largest shipbuilding program in Australia's history."
