Royal Mail and leaders from the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are to hold more talks aimed at ending the dispute over pay and modernisation.

If no agreement is reached then postal workers - who went on strike for two days last week - are planning more action on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Royal Mail says it is continuing to deal with a backlog of 30m items after last Thursday and Friday's walk-out, but the CWU puts the figure nearer to 65m.

Royal Mail, which has shed over 60,000 frontline postal staff in recent years, says it needs to further cut jobs as part of continuing modernisation plans. The CWU agrees job cuts are necessary but the two sides disagree over their extent of job losses, and the future pay and working conditions of the workers that remain.