More than 120,000 workers will walk out for 24 hours from 3am on Friday and then again for 24 hours on Monday (9 November).

Royal Mail management and the CWU were locked in talks all last week, however, the latest announcement of strike action suggests that little progress has been made.

A breakthrough in talks was reported to have been close, however the Royal Mail accused the CWU of bringing new demands to the table, including that its members be paid overtime to clear the backlog.

The CWU denied changing its terms.