Union bosses representing Royal Mail workers are hoping that potential buyer Daniel Kretinsky would be open to giving staff part-ownership through a collective employee trust.
Taking a leaf out of John Lewis's book, Communication Workers Union (CWU) general secretary Dave Ward has said he wants his 110,000 Royal Mail workers to have a say on how the business is run and a share of the profits.
He argued that it is an impossible goal under the current leadership at International Distributions Services PLC (LSE:IDS), Royal Mail's parent company, pointing to distrust and mutual fear between the union and boss Keith Williams.
Ward said: "The current IDS board has no strategy to make the Royal Mail successful... The members are demoralised because of the way they are being treated, attacked and alienated by management in a way we have never seen before.”
Therefore he has focused on talks with Kretinsky, whose £3.5 billion bid was waved through by management, and the Labour Party to help develop a “new business and governance model” for the postal service.
"We said we believe the current business model is broken but that there is a chance to align the interests of workers, customers and the company for the benefit of the UK economy," the CWU boss added.
"Unless the workforce is on board, Royal Mail won’t succeed.”