UNION leaders have issued a lunchtime deadline for the postal service to withdraw a threat to axe 30,000 jobs or face a ballot for strike action in the New Year.

Leaders of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will meet managers at postal group Consignia this morning - and the union will discuss a strike ballot if progress is not made by 1pm.

But Consignia insisted last night that no final decisions had been taken about possible job cuts.

Chief executive John Roberts stunned union officials and MPs when he mentioned the 30,000 figure during a meeting of a Commons select committee on Tuesday, but said he wanted to handle any job losses by natural wastage and voluntary redundancy.

''We have not got a firm figure for future job losses. What I can give is an assurance that the CWU will be fully consulted when we have firm proposals."

Mr Roberts said "radical action" was needed to cut costs in the face of huge losses which reached £100m in the first half of this year. The company wants to cut costs by 15 per cent.

Consignia has 200,000 staff throughout the country and more than 20,000 people in the North-East. If the cuts were imposed across the board, it would lead to 3,000 job losses in the region.

The North-East's four main sorting and delivery offices, in Darlington, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough, account for 4,200 employees alone.

Newcastle branch secretary John Woodhouse said Christmas would be bleak for members as they wait to hear who would be affected by the cuts.

He said: "It has come as a big shock to us.

"The workers are very angry and upset, especially with the timing of it in the lead up to Christmas.

"Strike action is something that we are seriously considering."

Prime Minister Tony Blair said in the Commons he would regret any job losses that were made by Consignia and added that the Post Office faced a difficult and challenging time