Scottish postal union officials say Royal Mail is only inflaming their long running dispute with plans to recruit up to 30,000 staff to cope with strikes by postal workers. 

The company, which is facing nationwide walkouts from Thursday October 22, is to hire twice the number of extra employees it usually takes on in the run-up to Christmas. 

Normally 15,000 staff are brought in before the Christmas period - the busiest time of the year for the company. Royal Mail says that temporary staff will clear the backlog of items expected to be caused by the strike.

Unions are now considering a legal challenge to the move.

The dispute centres on job cuts and modernisation plans. Royal Mail says that the measures are essential to improve efficiency, but the Communications Workers Union says that they are fighting to preserve the service from further erosion and to safeguard the jobs and conditions of members.

The national strike follows a ballot of 130,000 union members. There have already been a number of local stoppages in the dispute, in depots including Edinburgh and London. The last national strike was in 2007, and it cost Royal Mail millions of pounds. Strike action would hit many businesses at a key time, and a number of companies that rely on the postal service for deliveries are thought to be considering changing to other delivery services.

More talks are to be held between both sides on Monday, but there seems little sign of the strikes being called off.