The Communications Workers Union and Royal Mail came to a back-to-work agreement on Monday after weeks of unofficial strikes across the UK, and are now in talks with conciliation service Acas.
Royal Mail is keen to improve relations between management and workers, and is likely to ask former Labour general secretary and ex-union official Lord Sawyer to suggest ways of resolving unofficial strikes in the future.
It will be the second time Lord Sawyer has helped Royal Mail -- he was brought in two years ago to look at the company's industrial relations. His report identified faults on both sides and led to a period of calm until the recent row over pay and conditions.
Meanwhile, the Department of Trade and Industry has appointed a new chairman for postal regulator Postcomm. Nigel Stapleton is chairman of convenience food group Uniq and until July also chaired advertising agency Cordiant.
Stapleton takes up his post in January and replaces Graham Corbett, who will still be responsible for setting the prices competitors will have to pay to use Royal Mail's distribution network.
Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt said: "Nigel takes over the chair at a time of significant change in the postal market when the regulator has a key role overseeing the opening up of the market to give customers access to a wide range of high-quality, competitively priced services."
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