LONDON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Britain's postal workers union threatened new strikes Tuesday after negotiations with the state-run Royal Mail Group PLC ended with no agreement.
While progress has been made in some areas, including pay, it has not been enough to avert strikes this month, said the 300,000-member Communication Workers Union, Britain's main trade union for people working for telephone, cable and postal delivery companies.
The union said it feared Royal Mail was about to "implement unagreed operational changes," such as job and pay cuts, because it is losing business to Germany's Deutsche Post AG and The Netherlands' TNT NV, the BBC reported.
Britain's postal market has been open to competition since last year.
After rejecting a 2.5 percent pay increase, postal workers went on strike for four days in June and July, causing postal delays across Britain.
Royal Mail is now offering pay increases of 6.7 percent over two years, the union said.
Differences remain over pensions, the retirement age and working hours, the union said.
The union also said the postal service's modernization plans in the face of the new competition could threaten 40,000 jobs, the BBC said.
Royal Mail accused the union of ignoring the postal service's "stark challenges" and vowed to press ahead with changes.
