UNIONS are to meet with management at the Caterpillar plant in Stockton next week over proposed job cuts.

Caterpillar announced yesterday that it planned to cut about 98 jobs from its workforce of 450 at the heavy plant manufacturing site at Preston Farm.

Jeff Morland, divisional officer for the AEEU/Amicus union said he was dismayed by the plans to trim the workforce.

He said: "While the cuts will be among office and shop floor staff, we fear it will be our members that bear the brunt of the job losses. Ninety eight jobs from a workforce of 450 is a fair proportion to lose."

He said: "We plan to meet with the Caterpillar management next Wednesday to discuss the situation, and hope we will be able to reduce the number of workers affected by the cuts.

"Our reaction to the cuts is one of disbelief. We believe the order book at the plant is good and the company recently announced plans to introduce another production line. Hopefully, some of these losses will be avoided through retraining staff for different positions."

A statement issued by Caterpillar, said: "Demand in the worldwide construction market continues to challenge our business.

"In response to the poor business conditions we have reviewed our production needs and have revised our schedules accordingly.

"As a result, we have come to the conclusion that we cannot maintain our employment levels at Stockton.