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A fresh wave of postal strikes has been dramatically called off just hours before the latest walkouts were due to start.
The 24-hour national stoppages due to be held on Friday and next Monday will not go ahead after a deal was agreed to end a long-running row over jobs, pay and pensions.
Dave Ward of the Communication Workers' Union said he was pleased with the agreement, which was accepted unanimously by the union's postal executive.
"We can now have a period of calm where we hope we can genuinely take forward modernisation in a way that puts the union at the centre," said Mr Ward the union's deputy general secretary. "Our members will now know we can deal with modernisation in a way that gives them improved job security and improved terms and conditions."
Mr Ward said the union was under no illusions about the hard work ahead and he said the dispute had been "bitter". He went on: "It will take exceptional efforts to rebuild trust. But we will work very hard to ensure that the agreement stays on track."
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Mr Ward said the two sides will have the support of the conciliation service Acas during the negotiations over the next few months. He issued a fresh plea to the Government to tackle the Royal Mail's £10 billion pension fund deficit, saying that until that was dealt with it will be difficult to overcome the "challenges" ahead.
The union has decided not to press ahead with legal action against Royal Mail over the recruitment of agency workers following the agreement. A union official said a peace process was now under way, although the legal action, due before the High Court on Friday, was "on hold". Industry sources suggested that the Royal Mail had not recruited anywhere near the 30,000 temporary staff it said it was taking on to deal with the backlog of post as well as the Christmas rush. It was suggested that the company had not even recruited the 15,000 it normally takes on at this time of year.
Royal Mail managing director Mark Higson said he was "delighted" for customers that a "sensible agreement" had been reached which would allow deliveries to return to normal in the run-up to Christmas. He said the agreement allowed the company to move forward with modernisation in the new year.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson welcomed the news that the strikes had been put on hold, saying he hoped that all the "wrinkles" in the modernisation process could be solved by negotiation.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the agreement provided for a "period of calm" in the run-up to and beyond Christmas, free of industrial action, to enable further negotiations to be held to secure a longer term deal.
