MORE than 1,000 North-East electronics workers whose jobs were feared to be threatened have been given some hope.

A question mark has hung over LG Philips plants in Durham and Washington since the leaking of an 'internal discussion' document suggesting that the firm was considering closing them.

According to the document, LG Philips, which makes tubes for TVs and computers and also has plants in Blackburn and Newport, wanted to move production to cheap eastern European countries.

Last month, unions representing the Dutch/Korean firm's staff held an emergency meeting with its European management, who pledged to petition global bosses for more investment in the UK plants.

On Friday the unions were given a hopeful message at a meeting with Jim Smith, LG Philips's European managing director.

In a joint statement after the meeting, Mr Smith said: "So far, no decisions have been made to discontinue any of our Euroean operations other than those already announced.

"If such decisions are taken in the future, they will be driven by the ability of individual locations to compete against European and global competition."

Mr Smith said the firm would concentrate on improving plants' performances.

Danny Carrigan, a national officer of the engineering union Amicus, led Friday's trade unions delegation. He said that while the company had given no guarantees, he was hopeful for the future.

"At the very least we are talking, and we are hopeful that the Durham plant in particular can meet the competitive requirements of the market place," he said.

"We know the company is going to be around in Durham for the next couple of years and in that time, it's all to play for."

The unions plan to meet the management again in six months.