The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) said on Monday that up to 120 workers suffered job losses when a Brisbane rail factory relocated to China as the union warned that more job cuts can be expected with more manufacturing companies opting to outsource their contracts.

The Ipswich-based Bradken Rail factory admitted that they cannot match the competition being offered by Chinese manufacturing companies, with their leverage of affordable contract agreements and cheap labor costs.

AMWU spokesman Andrew Dettmer said that over the course of a five-month period, over a hundred workers in Australia lost their jobs to Chinese workers just because local companies were finding it more prudent to move some of their business divisions to overseas locations.

Mr Dettmer stressed that Bradken's case would not be the last for the country and considering places like "Maryborough which is 27 per cent of the economy depending on rail manufacture," then the country's job problems could be in for some rough sailings in the years to come.

He also cited the rail manufacturing area in Townsville, where its heavy manufacturing and engineering industries are the backbone of the communities' endangered workforce.

Mr Dettmer reminded the authorities that unless they implement positive and proactive industry policies over the affected regions, "then all of those skills and all of that manufacturing and all of those jobs will be lost."