UK postal talks continue

Talks aimed at averting a national postal strike were set to continue today after they ended without agreement.

Officials from the Communication Workers Union said no progress was made at the meeting yesterday with managers from postal group Consignia, held under the chairmanship of the conciliation service Acas.

The union will go ahead with a ballot of 140,000 postmen and women from today as part of a campaign to win a 5% pay rise.

Consignia has offered 2%, with the chance of a further 0.5% if quality of service targets are met.

The union’s deputy general secretary, John Keggie, said the union was campaigning for a £300-a-week minimum wage by October 2003 and compared that with the £500-a-day paid to new Consignia interim chairman Allan Leighton.

Mr Keggie claimed the offer was worth about 90p-a-day for postmen and women.

The ballot result is due early next month.