The union had scheduled a 24-hour walk-out for 4 November in a long-running dispute over a range of issues including pay, pensions and contractual terms and conditions. 

However, the strike was called off on 31 October after both parties agreed to step up negotiations in an effort to reach an agreement within two weeks, the deadline being today. At the time, Royal Mail agreed to extend the validity of the CWU’s industrial action ballot from 15 to 20 November.

It has now extended this to 27 November to allow extra time “to resolve outstanding issues" encountered during what have been described by the CWU as “intense talks”. If a resolution has not been reached by a week from today, the CWU could then serve a seven-day legal notice of its intention to strike on 27th.

In a joint statement released today the CWU and Royal Mail said that “significant progress” had been made in negotiations over “industrial stability, pay and protections”. 

A CWU spokesman told Printweek that the concurrent long-running issue over competition from downstream access providers was also on the table for negotiation and that as long as the strike action was suspended, a ballot over the boycotting of DSAs was also suspended. 

He added: "It is being discussed and we do expect to resolve the problems surrounding the competition and reach an agreement. We want Royal Mail to join us to pressure the regulators to take action for fair competition."

The two bodies aim to make a final agreement that includes:

•     Legal protections for employees that extend beyond the current three-year offer

•     An improved pay and reward offer

•     A separate pensions agreement

•     An agenda for growth underpinned by a culture of consensual change, timely decision-making and industrial stability supported by alternative dispute resolution processes

•     An agreed approach to aligning resourcing to workload with a resolution to any current workload and resourcing issues

•     An overview of the future parcels and letters strategy

•     A joint company/CWU charter shaping the ongoing values and principles of the Royal Mail Group

•     An ongoing operational programme of work

CWU general secretary David Ward said: "After appraising the postal executive of the progress made, it has been agreed that negotiations should continue with a view to resolving all outstanding issues.

"Members should rest assured that we are committed to reaching an agreement in the next week and that consideration will be given to serving notice for industrial action should this not happen.”