It is 11 years since post piled up in mail centres and pillar boxes were sealed in the last national postal strike.

Since then Royal Mail has undergone massive change. It has lost its monopoly and seen rival operators march into its lucrative business market, closed thousands of post offices and had sweeping management changes. It has also had billions of pounds in hand-outs from the Government to help it move into the modern age.

For a time it also seemed as though Royal Mail's industrial relations, which had been the worst in the country accounting for half of all strikes, had turned a corner.

But now with an overwhelming vote for strike action over a large pay increase we seem to be back at square one.

And there seems little prospect of a compromise with a gulf between the positions of the two sides. The Communication Workers Union wants a 27 per cent pay rise over five years, Royal Mail says it can only afford 2.5 per cent this year.

The union believes that Royal Mail is in a bad state because it has failed to respond quickly or effectively enough to competition. The postal group says it needs to cut costs in order to do so.

With such catch 22 arguments we may be in for a long battle. Meanwhile expect Royal Mail's rivals to make hay.

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