UNION representatives today denied rumours that strike action by postal workers would spread to the Southampton area.

After several one-day-walkouts by staff at the Fareham sorting office and plans for a ballot for strike action by Portsmouth workers it was rumoured industrial action could spread to the city.

But Arnie Hodges from the Communication Workers Union in Southampton said action was not imminent. He said: "No strike action is planned for our branch and any such action would be a long way off. We have been in negotiations but no meeting has been called to ballot members on whether to strike. Any decision to take action has to go through a very long process first and we are not even at the first stages of that."