A dreaded general strike by Royal Mail postal workers is to go ahead.

Members of the Communications Workers Union voted overwhelmingly in favour of Britain's first all out strike in two years.

The vote came in at three to one - 61,623 out of a total of 80,830 posties who say changes to working conditions are now intolerable.

Local strikes had been rumbling on for weeks with major disruption to London.

There are fears that the strike action could push small and medium sized business over the edge as many struggle to survive in the recession.

The dramatic escalation is part of the fight for the soul of Royal Mail as management desperately try to modernise the loss making service - yesterday online book retailer Amazon said it was cancelling its service worth £25m. It was RM's second biggest contract.

Work hard to avoid strike

Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said his union would work hard to avoid a strike. He said it would give the Royal Mail a "final opportunity" to resolve the dispute.

He said there would be a minimum of 10 days before any strike would take place in which he hoped an agreement could be reached with Royal Mail.

He added that union members had delivered a "damning verdict on the way the Royal Mail is run. We understand the need for modernisation, but it needs to be done in a way that protects workers".

Mr Ward also said the government had "caused many of the problems" the Royal Mail was now experiencing.

"If we don't take a stand now, postal services in the UK will be destroyed forever," he said.

Walk-out is "self-defeating"

Postal Affairs Minister Lord Young said:

"A national postal strike is completely self-defeating and will only serve to hurt consumers and businesses who rely on the post and drive even more people away from using mail as a means of communication.

"Royal Mail must modernise and these strikes will slow down that essential process."