WORKERS at Rolls-Royce in Barnoldswick were bracing themselves today for a company announcement that could lead to up to 4,000 job losses.

The company's chiefs were due to give details of the cut-backs following their monthly board meeting in London.

The brunt of redundancies is expected to be borne by the company's main UK plant in Derby, where about 13,000 people are employed.

But there are fears that the 1,000 people who work at Barnoldswick could be caught up in the latest wave of job losses following last month's terror attacks on the US.

And in a worrying week for jobs in East Lancashire, Michelin bosses have admitted that cheap overseas labour had played a part in the planned closure of its Burnley factory, with the loss of 452 jobs.

Since the news was announced, workers at the plant had claimed that Michelin were buying factories in eastern Europe and that cheaper production costs had meant workers in Burnley were uncompetitive.

"If you want to become a world player, you have to produce in many countries. Some countries you can't export to or there is sometimes a large local market that needs to be satisfied," said Michelin spokesman Paul Niblet.

"It has played a part in the Burnley closure in the sense that those markets can be satisfied by their local production, rather than having to import them from the United Kingdom, or even other parts of western Europe," he added. Rolls-Royce would give no indication of the extent of losses ahead of today's announcement.

A spokesman said: "We are completing a very detailed series of discussions with our customers to find out what impact on them and, therefore, on us, the events of September 11 has had."

Mick Lomax, of the MSF union, said: "It is a very unclear situation. There is a lot of anxiety in Derby and the rest of Rolls-Royce.

"It is the whole uncertainty of the thing and the fact that the company aren't telling us anything at all."