Trade Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Brendan Barber said the decision had been made to provide "a period of calm" in which the two sides could try and reach a long-term deal and meant that the service would be free of disruption over the busy Christmas period.
Both sides have stressed that they are still a long way away from reaching a long-term deal. However, postponement of strike action in 2009 is good news to small business owners and will enable the Royal Mail to work on the estimated 30 million backlog of letters that the recent industrial action has caused.