Postal workers in Oxfordshire say they will join a national strike if compulsory redundances are forced on them.

Consignia has reported losses of £1.1bn and announced plans to cut 17,000 jobs, on top of 13,000 already being axed in the parcel delivery service. The group is also dropping the name Consignia, becoming the Royal Mail again.

Pete Boswell, Oxford branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union, welcomed the decision by chief executive John Roberts to retire.

He said: "Anyone who can turn a successful multi-million pound company within three years into the farce it is now simply has to go."

Mr Boswell said that the union's position was that the loss the company was now talking about was a loss on paper only.

He added: "If there are to be redundancies, our position is that they will be voluntary. We simply will not countenance compulsory redundancies.

"If they decide on that, then there will be a battle."