Royal Mail's Fate Uncertain.

Royal Mail still lingers in limbo, its fate uncertain except now 10,000 postal workers are threatening to strike for 24 hours on Friday June 19 on the premise that modernization will lead to "arbitrary" job cuts.

After the strike was called the Communication Workers Union (CWU) offered a three-month moratorium on any job actions in return for a temporary halt on modernization and more talk about job security and higher pay and benefits. As it is, more strikes could follow Friday's walkout. The government is threatening to pull pensions in the absence of a partial sell-off of the Mail.

However, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who survived calls to quit last week, is too weak right now to push through the part-privatization plan in the face of the entrenched opposition of his own party.

The Brown government can't afford an MP discussion of the Royal Mail bill because it would underscore its weakness. It needs to regroup. So the proposed legislation's second reading by the House of Commons has been put on hold. No date has been set and Parliament will adjourn for the summer the third week in July.

And to really screw things up, the government can't get its price for Royal Mail from either of the remaining bidders.

Some press reports say the plan may be scrapped. Among other things, the new minister appointed to oversee the Post Office is Lord Young, described by the Times ...