UNION leaders met yesterday to discuss the threat of more job losses in the North-East steel industry in the face of the strong pound.

And they have warned such further losses could tear the heart out of industrial centres, such as Teesside, which has already suffered from initial job losses.

Corus, formerly British Steel, has already announced it is shedding 3,700 of its 27,500 workforce, including 760 jobs on Teesside.

In June, 230 jobs were axed in Grangetown, while a further 530 losses were announced at the Lackenby and Redcar works earlier this month.

Heads of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation are to hold further meetings in Cardiff today over the proposed loss of 1,300 more jobs in Wales.

Union leaders are calling for a national response to the crisis in the industry and moves to alleviate the effects such job losses will have on communities, including Teesside.

The company, Britain's biggest steel producer, blamed the strong pound, while union leaders warned the country could well find itself relying on imported steel in the future.

Mick Leahy, general secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, said: "We shall strive to coordinate, with the Government and local authorities, a coherent national response to the industrial and community crises caused by the Corus job cuts throughout the country."

Mr Leahy added: "We are calling on the Chancellor to act to accelerate the restoration of a realistic and sustainable exchange rate with the Euro, before the heart is torn out of the steel communities in the industrial heartlands."