TALKS are expected to begin this week at a beleaguered North-East drugs plant following an announcement of 400 proposed job cuts at the site.

Union representatives will meet with selected members of staff and management at the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) site at Barnard Castle, County Durham, to discuss the impact the planned job losses will have on the company and workforce.

Phase one of the internal consultation meetings are expected to get under way during the next few days, and will look at possible alternatives to the planned job cuts.

Regular meetings are expected to follow, with subsequent meetings looking at support and retraining for workers faced with redundancy.

The 1,500 workforce at the GSK site in Teesdale, which is one of the biggest pharmaceutical plants in the world, were told of the planned job cuts on June 14.

An external taskforce, headed by local MP Derek Foster, has already been set up to soften the impact of the job losses to the Teesdale economy, and GSK has already promised a £1.2m aid package to help the 400 workers due to lose their jobs.

The drugs firm has also pledged not to inflict any further job cuts on the remaining workforce.

A spokeswoman at the Harmire Road plant said: "The 400 job cuts are only proposals and the consultation group will be initially looking at alternatives to job losses.

"The outcome of the group's discussions will also be made available to the workforce, who we will keep informed throughout the discussions."

The global drugs giant has blamed the planned cuts on a massive merger between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham last year, which is expected to save the new company £1.6bn by 2003.