Journalists at Trinity Mirror's Midlands titles are to ballot for industrial action over possible futher job cuts and changes to their papers.

National Union of Journalists' members at the Birmingham Post and Mail, Coventry Newspapers and Trinity Mirror Midlands Weeklies claim the company is planning to close eight weeklies, reduce the frequency of the Birmingham Post and switch the Mail to overnight printing.

As yet these claims have been neither confirmed nor denied by the company.

In a statement issued this morning in response to the strike ballot move, it accused the union of being "highly irresponsible."

The NUJ claimed last week to have seen internal documents setting out the proposed cutbacks. Today it said members in all three chapels agreed to ballot when the company refused to rule out the changes or compulsory redundancies as a result.

Earlier this month the NUJ chapels presented their own blueprint for the future of the titles which was welcomed by bosses.

NUJ members are being balloted in Birmingham, Cannock, Coventry, Hinckley, Solihull, Stafford and Walsall and notification was sent to management yesterday.

NUJ northern organiser Chris Morley said: "In the last year these titles have lost more than 70 editorial posts and the journalists who work for them have had their workloads expanded to serve websites as well as papers.

"More cuts will mean an impossible workload and a drastic reduction of the local news and information service."

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear added: "These journalists are proud of the titles they work for which have a place at the heart of their communities.

"They want to protect jobs and provide a service to be proud of for readers and advertisers.

"If such major cuts go through, the viability of all the papers will be in doubt. The whole union will support them."

A Trinity Mirror spokesman said: "We are very disappointed that the NUJ has chosen this course of action without even engaging with us in our agreed dispute resolution procedures.

"It is highly irresponsible and does absolutely nothing to address the very real issues facing our Midlands businesses, and puts into stark perspective their recent claims to be working constructively with us.

"They would do better to start acknowledging the true scale of the commercial challenges facing newspaper businesses and be prepared to have meaningful discussions with us."