Selby miners are being balloted on strike action - just a week after the complex announced losses of £35 million last year.

Owners UK Coal today warned that industrial action could further damage the prospects of Selby, whose future is already hanging by a thread.

Members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) - including 2,000 at Selby - are being urged to vote for selective 24-hour strikes in a dispute over proposed changes in working patterns.

UK Coal bosses want to pilot a scheme at nearby Kellingley Colliery, which includes cutting coal seven days a week instead of five and working a controversial shift starting at tea-time.

Miners may also have to work longer shifts, although they will not be required to put in more hours a week.

The company said the changes would improve efficiency and help get deep mines out of the red.

The more flexible shifting arrangements would also provide jobs at Kellingley for men at Pontefract's Prince of Wales Colliery, which closes in August.

But miners' leaders said UK Coal was trying to change working practices without negotiations with the union.

The ten-day postal ballot starts today and the NUM's national executive is recommending strike action unless the company agrees to negotiations or withdraws its proposals.

Stillingfleet Mine NUM delegate and national executive member, Nigel Pearce, said: "If the company wants to change our terms and conditions, then they have to do it through union negotiation.

"There is a lot of suspicion among members about these proposals. The problem is we don't know exactly what the changes are because we're in the dark."

A UK Coal spokesman said they had tried to arrange a meeting with the NUM but without success.

He said: "It's unnecessary to hold a strike ballot until negotiations fail to conclude a deal, and we still have several more months to reach an agreement.

"Talk of industrial action just a week after we announced record losses beggars belief.

"It's a crucial time for the Selby complex and industrial action can only damage its prospects."

Updated: 14:06 Thursday, March 14, 2002