A union boss has warned postal workers may take industrial action over what he describes as ’massive cuts’ to the service.

Isle of Man Post Office is consulting on plans to modernise the service, which has made a loss for the first time ever.

Those plans include reducing the number of collection days, cutting post office hours and branches and increasing postal charges.

Terry Pullinger, deputy general secretary postal of the Communication Workers’ Union, is travelling to the island this weekend for a crunch meeting with members as talks stall over planned cuts to posties’ pay and pensions.

He says the dispute could end in industrial action.

He said: ’These are massive cuts that are proposed. I can’t believe it - it’s like taking a machete to the people and to the service. This is the most aggressive agenda you can have. It’s as if you have privatised while still being publicly-owned.’ Mr Pullinger claimed the proposals, including cutting pay for new starters and reducing daily postal collections from six to five days a week, were all about reducing head count.

He said management planned to introduce a new grade for starters who would begin on £18,000 a year rather than the current £26,000, and the upper limit would be just £22,000. The union boss said this would create a ’two-tier workforce’.

’This is purely about trying to reduce head count,’ he said.

Post Office bosses are also considering closing the current final salary pension scheme to new members. The current scheme is facing a £700,000 a year shortfall.

Asked if industrial action was now a real possibility, Mr Pullinger replied: ’Absolutely.’

He said: ’It’s very serious. Members need to decide whether to continue with the negotiations.

’They need to be prepared to defend themselves. If we don’t we would forever be accepting less. We are not pulling up the ladder on the next generation, not without a fight.’

The Post Office currently provides services through a network of 27 sub post offices, 24 of them independently-operated shops.

But the network has been making a loss of £1.5m a year with over-the-counter transactions slumping as more people access services online.

However, some post offices say they have never been busier with handling parcels due to online shopping.

The consultation says we have more post offices per head of population than anywhere else in the British Isles.

Mr Pullinger said the CWU had put up a robust defence of the island’s two Crown post offices, in Ramsey and Douglas, which have now closed down.

’I think really this is a debate about principles.

’When it comes to public services, they know the price of everything and value of nothing,’ he said.

Isle of Man Post Office says it is committed to looking at ways to best secure prosperity and has developed a five-year strategy to address a number of widespread industry challenges the business is facing.