THE row between Royal Mail and the postal workers’ union, which is to ballot for a national strike over pay, intensified yesterday after it emerged that the loss-making organisation has paid bonuses of up to £2,000 to managers.

A letter from four senior executives, led by Allan Leighton, the Royal Mail chairman, praises managers for having “borne the brunt of the pain” of a restructuring that has involved 30,000 job cuts. The letter to 35,000 managers and administration staff says: “We know it’s been tough but all your hard work over the 12 months has meant we’ve managed to exceed our financial targets, which in turn means bonus payments for you all. And so it should.”

Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said: “Watching while people are getting the sack is not taking the brunt of the pain. Our members have had the pain through losing their jobs. This strengthens our claim for a decent pay increase which does not have strings attached.”

News of the bonuses came as relations between the unions and Royal Mail hit a new low. A number of industry experts have given warning that Royal Mail risks a return to the days of regular strikes, when the postal service accounted for half of all strikes in Britain.

The unions are already livid over what they perceive as inadequate pay offers made by Mr Leighton last month. Yesterday the CWU said Royal Mail had a week to deliver a better offer before the ballot for strike action would begin.

Royal Mail claims that its pay offer is worth 14.5 per cent over 18 months but the CWU claims the offer amounts to only 3 per cent in October and a 1.5 per cent raise next spring.

A spokesman for Royal Mail defended the bonus payment to managers, insisting that performance targets had been achieved. He said some postal workers had also received bonuses when their own delivery targets had been met.

However, one senior industry source gave warning that the bonus culture was in danger of becoming uncontrollable at Royal Mail, particularly after two executives — Elmer Toime, the deputy executive chairman, and Adam Crozier, the chief executive — received bonuses of £40,000 and £57,000 respectively. At the time of the payments Mr Toime had worked at the organisation for only one month and Mr Crozier for two months. The source said: “They couldn’t possibly have contributed to a turnaround in that time, they would be still getting to know the business.”

Lord Sawyer, who conducted a report into industrial relations at Royal Mail, said he feared that the two sides were falling back into a worrying confrontation. He said: “I wish they would get back to talking partnership again. What’s going on now is that people are starting to dig trenches.”

Meanwhile, Mr Leighton is threatening to sue the CWU for defamation over claims it made in union literature.

Peter Carr, head of Postwatch, the postal consumers’ group, said: “I am surprised Allan Leighton has threatened to sue on the basis of a mistake in some union literature. It seems we are going back to the old regime rather than one of co-operation which must be beneficial to both sides.”

Ian Senior, an expert on the postal industry who is a director of Triangle consultants, said: “Allan Leighton is a man who likes to paint with a big brush. They can’t be that stupid at Royal Mail headquarters not to have thought through the consequences of their actions but it seems that the round of pay negotiating is much louder than normal.”