An agreement over pay, pensions and flexible working hours for postal workers could soon be reached, the BBC has learned.
An agreement to end the dispute over pay, pensions and flexible working hours for postal workers has been reached, the BBC has learned.
The progress in talks between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers' Union has boosted hopes that months of disabling strikes could be over.
The breakthrough comes after marathon talks between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) at the TUC in London.
The news comes after the High Court blocked official strike action planned for Monday and Tuesday.
Details of the deal are yet to be announced, but it is hoped the resolution will end the postal strikes.
A deal will bring to an end friction over Royal Mail's modernisation plans.
Earlier, the High Court blocked CWU strike action planned for next week.
Earlier on Friday, the Royal Mail was granted an injunction to stop Communication Workers' Union members at sorting centres and delivery offices from striking.
The company argued that the union had not given accurate figures for the number of staff affected by the strike - a legal requirement.
The union insisted the strike was legitimate.
The CWU had announced rolling 24-hour strikes to start on Monday and end on Friday, designed to cause maximum disruption to mail services with minimal financial loss for its members.
Other parts of the Royal Mail, such as drivers, may still strike later in the week.
Royal Mail has said that the High Court injunction covers the whole of the UK.
Resolution imminent?
Meanwhile, a resolution to the bitter dispute between union officials and the Royal Mail looked to be in sight as the two sides continued to talk late into Friday evening at the TUC in London, according to BBC correspondent Russel Hayes.
He said it had been initially suggested to him that a settlement could be reached within hours, but it later emerged that further progress needed to be made before a deal was agreed.
It is hoped a breakthrough will end the long-running row that has caused havoc with mail delivery services from the beginning of the summer.
Royal Mail has insisted it needs to modernise to survive as a business in the highly competitive mail industry, while union leaders have argued that its plans disregard the needs of its employers and would see 40,000 jobs cut.
With the question of pay seemingly resolved, the negotiations have latterly been focusing on two issues, pensions and flexible working.
The CWU has wanted talks on the closure of the Royal Mail's final salary pension scheme to be separated out from any deal to end the strike, while Royal Mail insists they must be part of any settlement.
PLANNED 24-HOUR STRIKES 15 October from 1800BST: Mail sorting offices and airports 16 October from 0300BST: Deliveries and collection hubs17 October from 1200BST: Royal Mail drivers 18 October from 1200BST: Manual data entry centres 18 October from 1400BST: Heathrow world distribution centre Source: CWU What is the strike about?
Negotiations on ending the practice of workers going home early if they have finished their work are also in deadlock.
Royal Mail says staff should be available to help with other jobs if their work is done - so-called flexible working.
But the union says that in practice that will lead to staff working rigidly to the rules, which will lead to less work getting done.
Wildcat walkouts
Unofficial protests began on Wednesday over what the union calls "management's imposition of unagreed changes" to working hours.
Workers at all 21 delivery depots across Liverpool walked out over changes to shift patterns, with CWU branch representative Mark Walsh saying staff felt they were being "being bullied into having their contract changed".
HAVE YOUR SAY The postal workers need to start work again now Chris, Durham Send us your comments
But Royal Mail condemned staff in Liverpool for the mass walkouts, saying they were "wholly unacceptable" and not supported by the CWU nationally.
"The issue of later start times is one we have been talking to our people about for months and has been accepted in 95% of our offices up and down the country," a spokesman added.
Postal workers in east, south-west and south-east London also went back to the picket lines over the dispute.
Meanwhile, staff in Edinburgh and Grangemouth walked out over pay deductions following recent official action.
Staff complained that cuts for strikes this week and last came out of one weekly wage. Royal Mail said the payroll calendar meant all deductions had to be taken at once.
However, despite calls from MPs to intervene in the dispute, the government has said it will not take action.
On Thursday, Business Secretary John Hutton said that the current offer on the table from the Royal Mail to end the official disputes was a "decent and fair one" and he hoped the dispute would end as "quickly as possible".
The comments came after Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan accused ministers of "lacking the will or direction" to end the strike.
