17:42
Tieng Anh Vui
Details of the privatisation of Royal Mail are expected to be announced on Wednesday.
The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, will tell MPs that the government is to press ahead with its plan for a share flotation, possibly by the autumn.
The government has already confirmed that 10% of the shares will be offered at discounted rates to Royal Mail staff.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are overwhelmingly opposed to the privatisation.
A spokesman for the CWU said on Monday that postmen were "deeply suspicious" of the idea of a share scheme.
Strike action
In a letter to the Business Minister, Michael Fallon, the union has warned that if the government does not think again about the privatisation, then "the threat to terms and conditions of postal workers will inevitably lead to strike action."
CWU general secretary, Billy Hayes, said: "Nobody outside of government and their potential investors wants their postal service sold. The public consistently oppose the sale and recently 96% of workers voted against."
'Seize opportunites'
The government said the Royal Mail needs access to private capital to "innovate and seize the opportunities presented by new markets."
That includes the rapid growth of online shopping, which helped Royal Mail more than double its profits last year.
It is thought the flotation will raise more than £2bn, comparable to the sell-off of Railtrack in 1995, but nowhere near as big as the large utility company (like British Gas) privatisations of the 1980s.
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Unlike the great privatisations of the past, of the gas, electricity and telecoms industry, there will be no aggressive attempt to sell the shares to individuals - there will be no campaign such as the famous "Tell Sid" adverts of the 1980s for the flotation of British Gas.”
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The flotation of Royal Mail does not include the Post Office. The two are separate companies with independent boards. The Royal Mail sorts and delivers letters and parcels. The Post Office is the national network of branches that offer postal, governmental and financial services. The Post Office itself is not for sale.
Unresolved issues
The sell-off of Royal Mail is not big surprise - the government enacted the necessary legislation through the Postal Services Act 2011. The idea was first mooted under the last Labour government.
Chuka Umunna MP, Labour's Shadow Business Secretary, said the government is pushing ahead with the privatisation simply to "dig the Chancellor, George Osborne, out of a hole of his own making."
"There are still huge unresolved issues around competition, and ministers haven't said how much capital they expect the business will be able to raise after privatisation or how the proceeds of the sale will be used," he said.
The Royal Mail employs 150,000 people and can trace its history back to a forerunner established in 1516 during the reign of Henry VIII. The General Post Office (GPO) was then brought into being in 1660. Adhesive postage stamps were introduced in 1840.
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