Royal Mail managers to vote on walkouts

Union leaders are set to hold a strike ballot among 12,000 Royal Mail managers and supervisors in the dispute over pay.

Officials at Amicus argued that an informal offer means 4 out of 10 senior staff would receive less than the inflation rate and would in effect suffer a drop in income.

On Wednesday, employees' representatives will urge the union's executive to authorise a vote on walkouts.

The union says the proposals on pay, understood to add just under 3 per cent to the wage bill, would yield a lower increase than that enjoyed by other groups of employees. Royal Mail has made about 700 managers redundant over the last few weeks and is threatening further job losses, Amicus said.

Royal Mail emphasised it is still talking to Amicus.

Meanwhile, the Communication Workers' Union, which represents around 140,000 postal workers, has set aside a ballot on industrial action. The CWU said it had reached agreement on "several key issues".