TALKS are already under way between union officials and workers in an effort to save 400 jobs at a North-East drugs plant.

Selected members of staff have already met with union representatives at the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) site at Barnard Castle, County Durham, where bosses announced proposals to axe hundreds of workers last month.

The consultation group, made up of 16 members of staff, including management, is meeting every week to discuss alternative options to the planned job cuts at the pharmaceutical plant.

The consultation group is circulating a newsletter around the plant to inform staff of the latest developments and issues raised during each meeting.

A spokeswoman for the Barnard Castle plant said the consultation group was in phase one of the talks.

She said: "At the moment, the group is looking at alternatives to the job cuts, which at present are merely proposals.

"If the cuts go ahead then the group will look at redundancies, retraining and support, but that is some way in the distance."

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 planned cuts have been blamed on the merger between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham last year, which is expected to save the new company £1.6bn by 2003.