DECATUR - Caterpillar Inc. workers in Decatur were told Monday that most motor grader production and some 600 jobs were being moved to a new company plant in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

Caterpillar officials said there will not be any immediate layoffs in Decatur associated with the move but future prospects are not so clear.

The company has said it is moving motor grader production as part of its plan to ramp up its assembly of the world's biggest mining trucks built at the Decatur plant. Caterpillar says it still doesn't know what the net loss or gain of jobs will be in Decatur until it decides how many new jobs will be created as part of the mining truck expansion.

And one line of motor grader production, the big 24M model associated with use in mining operations, will remain at the Decatur plant.

The Decatur factory complex has some 5,000 workers with around 1,000 of those jobs associated with motor grader manufacture. Workers at the plant were told of the North Little Rock decision in mass meetings Monday.

A spokesman for the United Auto Workers Local 751, which represents shop floor employees, could not be reached for comment.

Such a big shake-up in jobs, however, is bound to cause anxiety in Decatur and the whole Central Illinois area where Caterpillar paychecks support many families. But Kate Kenny, a company spokeswoman who visited the Decatur plant Monday, said Caterpillar was not turning its back on Decatur.

"We're going to increase and expand and improve product efficiency in our global mining equipment," she said. "We're going to make our facility there the mining hub of Caterpillar. So we're not abandoning Decatur at all."

Kenny said it was difficult to say how big the ramp-up in mining truck production would be because of the global recession which is hurting sales. "Everybody is hopeful that the economy will turn around and that demand will pick up again," she added.

And while Decatur ponders an uncertain future, Arkansas was rejoicing over its latest success in landing a big employer. Caterpillar is spending some $140 million to refit a 712,000-square-foot plant that used to make DVDs and expects to have motor graders rolling off the assembly line there by early in 2010.

The company got $3 million from a fund administered by Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe as part of an incentive package and will get other tax incentives and benefits based on the number of jobs it creates.

"Welcoming a well-known and respected company like Caterpillar to Arkansas is a great way to start 2009," Beebe said. "We look forward to a long and successful partnership with Caterpillar that will serve as another example of the advantages Arkansas has to offer companies increasing their presence throughout the world."

Arkansas is a "right to work state," which means it has laws that say no person can be compelled as a condition of employment to join a labor union or to pay dues to a labor union.

Caterpillar also recently announced it was laying off more than 800 workers at its Mossville engine plant, but planning to build a new engine facility in Texas, another right to work state.

Some commentators have wondered whether Caterpillar's moves were being driven, at least in part, by a desire to avoid higher costs associated with union shops. But Kenny said that was a misreading of the situation.

"The move to North Little Rock is a logistical move," she said. "It brings us much closer to our North American customers and different logistical hubs. It's a logistical move and not a workforce issue."

Asked if workers from Decatur could simply transfer with their jobs to Arkansas, Kenny said she understood they would have to reapply for the posts.

Craig Coil, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County, said Illinois needs to do a better job of making the state a more attractive location for employers.

He said high compensation costs for incapacitated workers - up to 400 percent higher than some states - plus high taxation and unemployment insurance rates were hurting the state's ability to compete. Coil said a state political leadership structure that is seen to be in disarray hasn't helped, either.

"It's a question of whether ? the legislature or whoever ends up being in charge at the end of the day in Springfield decides it's a priority to make business development a core initiative," he said. "I don't think that's been there as a core initiative in the last few years."

In the meantime, Coil sees some reason for optimism over the Caterpillar situation. He said orders for mining trucks and equipment are "sold out" into 2010 and beyond and, while those orders are being filled, it gave the local plant some breathing room as it waits for the global economy to recover.

Shares in Caterpillar fell 83 cents to $46.08 cents in trading Monday.

treid@herald-review.com|421-7977. The Associated Press contributed to this report.