DEFIANT posties in Fareham are taking a last stand against changes to their way of working.

The delivery office is the last in the south to resist a national change which workers believe will decimate the already crisis-torn service.

Union bosses are adamant that 143 workers will not agree to the move, despite it meaning fewer hours, a pay increase and a switch to a five-day week for them. They even held a round of unofficial industrial action to oppose the scheme at the end of last week.

Royal Mail chiefs are amalgamating the first and second delivery across the country - and wanted Fareham to follow suit.

However, workers at the town's delivery office voted overwhelmingly against removing 1,100 hours of work from their office each month and reducing them from six shifts to a rotating five-day week.

Richard Tabner, branch secretary for the Communication Workers' Union, fears the plans would mean further failures in the town's postal service.

He said: "The members at Fareham will not accept the changes and are genuinely worried that cutbacks will further erode a service which is, in their opinion, already in crisis.

"All our members see is a failing service where the employers believe they can take out 1,100 more hours and actually provide a better service to our customers.

"It is a shame that those who believe these Herculean tasks are possible are not the ones who have to face our customers."

He added: "Our members don't want to be responsible for further failing services in Fareham. There are deliveries that don't go out every day and it's against that background that we're being asked to lose even more hours."

One of the town's postmen, who asked not to be named, added: "Fareham isn't working as it is and they want to take out even more hours. We can't see how it is going to work at all."

Under the plans, full-time workers could expect to earn a further £26.28 a week for accepting the changes.

Royal Mail spokesman Dan Panes confirmed that local discussions will be continuing to see if an agreement can be reached.

He said: "The changes are there to make the service more efficient. The second delivery amounts to about three per cent of post, but 20 per cent of delivery costs and this is something we can't sustain."