Strikes could be called off or extended, a CWU spokeswoman claims.

A decision is expected today as to whether national postal strikes will take place tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, following three days of talks between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

The union's executive is poised to meet today and discuss the progress made over the past few days in the dispute over jobs, pay and plans to modernise the postal service.

Although discussions are said to have been productive, neither side is believed to be prepared to back down over their demands, meaning members of the public may have to use the services of alternative parcel delivery firms, such as Parcel2Go.com.

A spokeswoman for the CWU said that, rather than the industrial action being cancelled, there is the possibility it could be extended.

"Our executive will meet tomorrow afternoon [Wednesday] and assess where everything is in terms of the talks that have been happening … they could call the strike off or, at the other extreme, call for more strike action," the representative stated.

The prime minister, Gordon Brown, recently criticised plans for the series of national postal strikes as "self-defeating".

Written by Tom Sands


Article Added: 28/10/2009 09:28:37