CHEAP imports from Eastern Europe have forced a Lancashire firm to cut 150 jobs.

Philips in Blackburn, which supplies monitor tubes for TV and computers, confirmed it was looking for up to 150 voluntary redundancies, around one-third of its workforce.

But despite the bitter jobs blow in the run-up to Christmas, there will be some relief for workers who had feared the entire plant would close.

The company's plant at Simonstone is not affected by the restructuring.

The 470 staff at Philips were told of the news today by plant director Phil Brown who said talks would begin with the unions today.

"We have to improve production quality and costs to succeed in a very competitive world market," he said. "I believe this will help put LG Philips Displays to remain a market leader in the supply of television and PC monitor tubes around the world."

Mr Brown added that the company would help any staff volunteering for redundancy to find another job.

In September this year, the engineering union Amicus said that the Blackburn plant was one of four in the UK proposed for closure.

A document, leaked to the union, said the factories in Blackburn, Durham, Washington and Newport would be closed because of low cost imports from Eastern Europe.

Philips has been one of the town's largest employers for more than 60 years. In December last year, 76 workers were made redundant in what the company described as a move to make the factory more competitive. Another 20 have followed this summer.

Dutch-owned Royal Philips Electronics is one of the world's largest companies and employs more than 184,000 people in 60 countries.

The Blackburn and Simonstone plants are run in a joint venture with South Korean manufacturer LG Electronics.