Caterpillar could shed 300 jobs in South Milwaukee. Still open for Business?

While the state has slipped to 44th place in private job creations, Caterpillar had very bad news for labor:

Huge cuts are on the way at Caterpillar Global Mining in South Milwaukee. The maker of heavy mining equipment rounded up employees on Thursday morning, March 28th to let them know they might not have a job in a few months. Caterpillar plans to cut 40% of the workforce at the South Milwaukee plant. That could mean a loss of up to 300 jobs. Caterpillar officials say business is slowing. They released the following statement on the matter: “Various Caterpillar facilities and business units are taking action to bring our production in line with demand.”

From Fox6 in Milwaukee:



But this announcement came at an odd time according to one union worker:

 “What is Caterpillar hoping to accomplish by five days before negotiations begin to scare and threaten the workers with a massive layoff?” said union member Ross Winklbauer. “If they really have planned this massive layoff, why have they contracted with Milwaukee Area technical college to train replacement workers, scabs, when things are as slow as what they try and tell us,” said Winklbauer.