Postal unions have warned that they may launch a 10-day rolling strike across the country, which could begin as early as next week.
Dave Ward, chief negotiator of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), will today offer to go into mediation with Royal Mail bosses and will call for an independent inquiry into working conditions at the postal service.
The union said if this approach failed the postal workers could look to take the “nuclear option”.
A CWU source told theSunday Times: “If this is not taken up by the company, then that almost certainly means there will be a series of rolling strikes. The earliest they could start would be the following Monday.”
Another source said: “Ten days of rolling strikes is being talked about – that is the nuclear option. Another is a combination of one-day national walkouts followed by three-day rolling strikes. Nothing has been ruled out yet.”
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Last week about 61,000 of the total eligible workforce of more than 140,000 postal workers voted to strike in a dispute about modernisation that will result in thousands of job losses.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of Royal Mail, Adam Crozier, has been awarded £2.4m in performance bonuses since starting at the company in 2003. the Independent on Sunday reported.
