Royal Mail is facing fresh industrial action unless it reverses changes to its pension scheme and gives assurances on the future of the business.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) voted unanimously to hold a strike ballot on the wide-ranging issues as an emergency motion at its annual conference.

The move is designed to put pressure on both Royal Mail and the Government as an independent review looks at the future of the postal network.

The postal group halted its final salary pension for all employees in April, and replaced it with one based on career average earnings. It has warned that it needs to make radical changes to the pension plan which has a £3.4 billion deficit.

However, the CWU warned that it would push for industrial action unless Royal Mail backs down from its overhaul of the pension plan. The union is also demanding involvement in the reorganisation of mail centres and the introduction of greater automation, which it believes could cost 40,000 jobs.

Dave Ward, CWU general secretary, said that the strike ballot was part of a “major industrial and political campaign effectively to secure the future of our industry”. Mr Ward said the union accepted that there would have to be changes in Royal Mail but that they could not be enacted out on a piecemeal basis. The union’s motion said that the timetable for a ballot “will be designed to maximise pressure on the company and the Government”. Mr Ward said that Royal Mail would be offered talks before a ballot is implemented.

The threat of renewed strike action comes months after Royal Mail suffered one of the biggest strikes in 20 years in a clash over pay.

Earlier, CWU leaders called on Royal Mail’s chairman and chief executive to quit and warned that the postal group’s business plan was in crisis.

Billy Hayes, general secretary, said that Allan Leighton and Adam Crozier were like “two drunken sailors rolling from side to side” with their claims about the financial state of the business.

Royal Mail recently warned that it would soon need billions in extra cash from the Government although last year its leaders claimed that the business had been turned around from losses of £1 million a day. Last year it received a £3.9 billion bail-out from the Government.

Dave Ward, deputy general secretary, attacked Mr Crozier’s recent £3 million pay package as "obscene" and said that he should quit because he did not have the vision to lead the company.

Mr Ward told the conference in Liverpool: "Royal Mail is doing the Oliver Twist thing by asking the Government for more money to pay for pensions and to transform the business. They want between £8 billion and £9 billion from the Government, which they know will not be given, so they will come out and say the only solution is privatisation.”

Mr Hayes accused Mr Leighton of having an “abrasive and hectoring manner”. He said he thought that the Government was losing confidence in the management capabilities of Mr Leighton and Mr Crozier. “The Government were a bit besotted with them at first but now I think they are a lot more sceptical,” he claimed.

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