Postal workers voted narrowly against striking

Last week, postal staff voted to reject a national walkout by a margin of less than 2,000 votes.

But workers in London, involved in a separate dispute over London weighting, backed walkouts by about 11 votes to 4.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) executive is now deciding whether to call industrial action in London.

Any strike in London would have a huge impact on mail deliveries across the UK.

Agreement has still to be reached on the national pay dispute, despite the vote against striking.

Strike ballot results Votes in favour of action: 46,391 Votes against: 48,038 Majority: 1,647

Observers fear the ballot result leaves the way clear for the Royal Mail to push ahead with 30,000 planned job cuts.

In a statement, the CWU said: "The national ballot is disappointing news for the union but Royal Mail cannot view a less than 1% majority as a mandate for massive job losses across the industry."

A CWU spokesman added: "We still have to get a negotiated settlement, all that's changed is that the union's position is considerably less strong that it was before."

Keeping post moving

Union officials blamed pressure from management for the outcome, but said postal workers would continue to fight for a better wage.

The dispute is over pay and conditions, with postal staff rejecting a pay raise valued by management at 14.5% over 18 months, because they say it is tied to changes which would mean the loss of thousands of jobs.

ROYAL MAIL OFFER 14.5% pay rise over 18 months - 3% in October - �26.28/week in local productivity deals - 1.5% in April Average basic pay for a 40-hour week lifted from �261.98 to �300 End to second delivery, giving a five-day week for all Loss of 8,500 jobs on voluntary basis 30,000 redundancies across Royal Mail group 16,000 of those jobs gone already Total cost of proposals: �340m

Jim McNichols, of the union's Greater Manchester Branch, said workers had voted against a strike because they were "worried about their jobs".

But he also blamed Royal Mail "propaganda" for influencing the vote.

The Royal Mail has said it was losing �750,000 a day during the last financial year - a figure contested by the union - and claims a strike would be "commercial suicide".

TRADE UNION DEMANDS 8% pay-rise in October Talks to achieve �300 a week Swift discussions on end to second deliveries and new shift patterns No fixed target for job-losses Agreements tailored to local post office needs Shorter working week

A strike would have been potentially damaging for the prime minister, who appointed Royal Mail's chairman Allan Leighton.

Mr Leighton and chief executive Adam Crozier were brought in from the private sector to turn the business around and make it profitable again.

Some postal workers said they found it hard to live on their Royal Mail wages, which, they claimed left them with less than �200 for a 40-hour week.

But according to the company, the basic pay rates for postmen and women are