CWU boss warns of more post strikes

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About 120,000 workers are preparing to walk out across the country next Thursday and Friday in a long-running row with management over modernisation plans, pay and conditions.

In an interview with The Times, Communication Workers Union (CWU) leader Billy Hayes said all sides needed to "drive quicker" for an agreement, or "the impact of any future action will not be unimportant".

Asked to sum up the purpose of the stoppages - which follow a series of regional walkouts - he replied: "I'll give it to you in a word - compromise.

"We are not saying we are angels of virtue, what we are saying is that there are faults on all parts, it takes two to tango, and at the moment we seem to have a reluctant partner in Royal Mail."

Mr Hayes called for Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to get more involved.

"I think Peter Mandelson is a compromiser; he has done the biggest one in his life by going to work for Gordon Brown," he said.

The union leader has previously accused the Government of refusing to allow an independent conciliator to be brought in.

Mr Hayes, who has been a member of the Labour Party for 35 years, conceded the dispute was affecting the party's electoral fortunes.

"I am not saying this helps the Government, hence the reason why we want to get it sorted, but the problems Labour face cannot be laid at the door of the CWU," he said. "It is in the Government's gift to ensure that this matter is brought to a head and settled."