Postal workers in the Isle of Man will have just under a month from February 18 to cast their votes in a strike ballot.
The Communication Workers' Union is urging them to support industrial action, in the first vote of its kind at Isle of Man Post.
It's the latest development in a pay dispute in which the employer is insisting it must stick to this year's public sector pay freeze, and the CWU is saying workers should expect a pay rise, because the government owned operation is making a profit.
Secretary of the Isle of Man branch of the Communication Workers' Union Jon Joughin says a postal ballot is a complex process (first part of audio file):
Mr Joughin says, even at this stage, strike action is not a foregone conclusion (second part of audio file):