UK government urges talks to halt Postal strike

Anxious ministers will exert strong pressure on Communication Workers Union leaders in Brighton this week to resume talks with the Royal Mail before a pay ballot commits the CWU to the first national postal strike for seven years.

Ministers, Royal Mail execu tives and union leaders are acutely aware that the ballot result is only nine days away and could lead to an all-out strike by 160,000 postal workers which, according to Allan Leighton, Royal Mail chairman, could last into next year.

Patricia Hewitt, the industry secretary, who is due to speak at the TUC tomorrow, will attend a dinner with union leaders, and Gerry Sutcliffe, the new employment minister, is holding a series of talks with officials all week. They are anxious to avert a strike that could be more damaging to Labour than the firefighters’.

CWU officials said no formal talks with Ms Hewitt were planned, but acknowledged that this week was the last chance to avert a strike before the ballot result on September 17. The union believes that the voting is running overwhelmingly in favour of action against the Royal Mail’s offer of 14.5% over 18 months linked to the ending of the second daily letters delivery and 30,000 job losses.

Mr Leighton, who has rejected the CWU’s demand for an immediate 8% pay rise, has said that if the ballot backs industrial action there will inevitably be a strike, because the Royal Mail cannot afford more than the £340m cost of its final offer.

He is carrying out a three-year plan costing £3bn, including £1bn of government loans, to restore the state corporation to profitability.