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With the situation described by insiders as “precarious”, Royal Mail is pressing ahead with plans to unilaterally make sweeping changes to working practices if the CWU rejects the latest pay offer.
These include greater use of technology to automate sorting and other manual processes, as well as extending the working week so that it includes Sundays.
It is thought that the main change that Royal Mail will not be able to unilaterally impose is forcing existing staff to start and finish work later.
Royal Mail and the CWU have been in discussions for almost a year over the biggest overhaul of working practices since the business was privatised under David Cameron in 2013.
The company has said it is losing £1m a day, with strike action by the CWU costing £200m in lost business and additional costs.
Hopes had been raised of a breakthrough earlier this month when Sir Brendan Barber, the former head of the Trades Union Congress and ex-chairman of conciliation service Acas, was drafted to oversee the most recent round of intensive talks.
A spokesman for the CWU said: “It is clear Royal Mail Group is in a serious financial situation.
“This is as a direct result of mismanagement and recklessness at the most senior level of the company. Those individuals who have led the company into this crisis have no right to lead us out of it.
“The company as a whole now has a decision to make – do they reach an agreement with the union or do they continue their relentless and daily assault on postal workers in workplaces across the UK?
“There is no positive future for Royal Mail without the support of the workforce.”
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