The chairman of Royal Mail has insisted there is no money available to improve a 2.5% pay offer to staff who are threatening a national strike.
The Communication Workers Union on Wednesday wrote to Allan Leighton warning they will call the first postal walkout in more than a decade if progress is not made within the next few days on a deadlocked row over pay and conditions.
The Royal Mail has said it is ready to meet the union for discussions over pay and modernisation. But Mr Leighton said on Thursday he had no room for manoeuvre on money.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We can't improve our 2.5% pay offer. People think it's a matter of negotiation, but 2.5% is what is affordable at the moment.
"It is actually more than 2.5% because there is the opportunity to share in productivity going forward.
"The money on the table is the money on the table because that is what the business can afford. Businesses like ours that are competing in a commercial environment can't afford to pay money out that we don't have."
The CWU has so far held back from naming strike dates to give time for fresh talks following an overwhelming vote in favour of action by postmen and women.
Deputy general secretary Dave Ward said yesterday: "We have provided Royal Mail with a practical and reasonable solution and are determined to negotiate further.
"It is outrageous that the business is ignoring the clear message from their workforce and appear to be provoking a postal strike rather than resolving one.
"Royal Mail can continue to be in denial but we will not go away. If there is no progress within the next few days, we will have no alternative but to announce strike action."
