WORKERS at Manweb plan to strike for 48 hours from tonight.

Maintenance staff are protesting against the transfer of staff to a joint venture company with construction group Alfred McAlpine.

The move follows industry deregulation which allows competition in the sector which provides connections to new buildings.

About 200 workers at the firm's new connections office in Liverpool, and staff in Warrington and Chester, were asked to take action. Another 200 in Scotland were also balloted.

The action threatens repair work on power lines and cabling in Merseyside, Cheshire and north Wales. A second strike is planned next week.

Manweb's parent company Scottish Power insists the joint venture is the only alternative to compete with new players in the UK.

It will today seek a court injunction to prevent the strikes taking place, claiming workers had been balloted wrongly.

Management say the injunction is not to stop the industrial action from going ahead but to "revisit" the exact issues on the ballot paper.

The plan to set up new connections company Core Utilities Solutions has left some workers fearing for their long- term job security, and terms and conditions, should it be sold in the future. They claim Scottish Power has broken an agreement made with the unions last May following a dispute over its transport depots, which said staff would remain Scottish Power employees.

The company disputes this and says the terms and conditions of the transferred staff will be protected.

Last night, a Manweb spokesperson said: "Scottish Power has stressed the proposed joint venture with McAlpine is the only option offering long-term security for the new connections business.

"The company is obviously disappointed with the proposed industrial action but notes that this goes against the official recommendations of the unions to accept the company's enhanced offer.

"Scottish Power is committed to the joint venture and discussions with the unions are continuing.

"We believe this is the only way of moving forward now that Manweb is competing at a national level for contracts."

She added Manweb had contingency plans in place if the strike went ahead.

A two-day stoppage was planned at the end of October but was suspended after talks.

Last night, union officials were unavailable for comment.