(Alliance News) - Royal Mail PLC workers are to vote again on strikes in a long-running dispute over job security and conditions.
The Communication Workers Union has formally served notice on the company for a national ballot.
Voting papers will be sent out on March 3, with the result due two weeks later.
The union secured a huge mandate for action last year but the Royal Mail staged a successful legal challenge to halt strikes.
There was a 97% vote in favour of industrial action on a turnout of almost 76%.
However, the company successfully argued there were irregularities in the ballot.
CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: "Our members are solidly behind their union and will return a massive yes vote in this ballot. The company have the opportunity to take up our offer of serious negotiations prior to any action being taken. If they don't then we will see the first national postal strike in over a decade.
"We will not stand by and see our industry, the service we provide to businesses and the public and our members jobs destroyed."
The new ballot involves around 111,000 Royal Mail workers and 4,500 at Parcelforce.
Shane O'Riordain, Royal Mail managing director of regulation, corporate affairs and marketing, said: "We respect our employees' loyalty to the union and the union's role in representing the interests of its members. But there are no grounds for industrial action. On February 20, we gave a 6% three-year proposal for our CWU-grade people. This means an increase, including the first hour of the shorter working week, of more than 16% between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2023. We can only afford to do this if we deliver on the plan we announced to our stakeholders last year. To do this, we need to change more quickly than before.
"We want to invest GBP1.8 billion in the UK to turn around and grow. Our proposal underlines our commitment to being the best employer in our industry. It maintains our policy of no compulsory redundancies for frontline operational colleagues. We will not become a gig economy employer. We will not introduce zero-hours contracts for permanent employees or outsource Royal Mail's core operations. Our door remains open. A ballot result for industrial action does not necessarily mean there will be industrial action. We want to reach agreement."
Royal Mail shares were 1.6% higher at 168.92 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.
source: PA
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