Millions told to start Christmas shopping now due to Royal Mail strike

Millions of people are being urged to do their Christmas shopping now to avoid presents and gifts being caught up in the first national postal strike for two years.

The news came as Royal Mail workers voted by a majority of three to one in favour of a national strike in a bitter row over jobs, pay and services.

Ministers warned that the threatened strike meant that Royal Mail’s “financial position was precarious”, while experts said it was tearing itself apart

The leaders of the Communication Workers Union will now meet on Monday to decide their next move. They have to give seven days’ notice of a strike, raising the threat of stoppages and large-scale mail backlogs across the country within weeks.

Any national strike will come in the run-up to the crucial pre-Christmas trading period which is hugely important to Royal Mail’s profitability.

Consumer groups urged people who buy presents over the internet or by mail order to place their orders now to avoid disappointment.

Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? magazine, said: “Christmas shopping can be stressful at the best of times, but there are ways to make it easier.

“If you’re planning to shop online, check final delivery dates well in advance – and keep checking in case they change.”

Robert Hammond, a postal expert at the watchdog Consumer Focus, said: “We are urging companies which are heavy users of the postal service – such as Amazon or eBay - to make their plans clear on their websites, especially if the strike continues in the run up to Christmas.

“Banks and credit card companies should also show flexibility when considering late payment charges incurred as a result of delayed mail.”

EBay, the online auction site, said it had decided to temporarily remove the option for buyers to rate sellers on the time taken to dispatch an item, following the strike decision. Amazon said it was making contingency plans to use another courier firm in the event of a national postal strike.

Mr Hammond said it was likely that some Royal Mail customers, particularly large businesses, would stop using the service altogether.

He added: “Royal Mail customers are already finding alternative ways of communicating and many will not return once the dispute is over.”

Support for the national strike was high in the poll, as revealed in yesterday’s The Daily Telegraph, with members of the Communication Workers Union voting by three to one for strike action.

Almost 81,000 out of 121,000 CWU members took part in the ballot, a turnout of 67 per cent. Some 61,623 workers backed action, with 19,207 against, a majority of 76 per cent – fractionally less that the proportion that voted to strike in 2007.

The roots of the row can be traced back to a dispute over the future of several hundred staff at a delivery office in the central London in May.

Workers balloted for local strike action when managers started to implement unilaterally a plan to cut costs by more than 20 per cent after talks stalled. The local strikes then spread across the country, culminating in a national ballot.

Dave Ward, the CWU’s deputy general secretary, said: “This is a huge vote of ‘no confidence’ in Royal Mail management. The company has tried to make out that problems only exist in some local offices, but postal workers across the UK have now spoken and they say no to Royal Mail’s arrogance.”

However, Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s managing director, said the organisation had met with CWU officials 70 times over the past few months in a vain attempt to thrash out a peace deal.

“It is clearly reprehensible for the union to continue to hold strikes when Royal Mail is not planning any further efficiency changes for the rest of the 2009 calendar year and the priority facing everyone in Royal Mail is to deliver the best possible service to customers in the run-up to Christmas.”

Lord Young, the Postal Affairs minister, said: “Royal Mail must modernise and these strikes will slow down that essential, process. The amount of mail being posted continues to fall dramatically and the company’s financial position is precarious.

“Management and the unions have to resolve their differences and work together on the change necessary to safeguard the future of the company.”

Ken Clarke, shadow business secretary, added: “This strike is the most foolish and irresponsible for many years. The business needs to be reorganised and turned into a functioning delivery service as quickly as possible.”

There was speculation that a national postal strike could herald a winter of discontent involving hundreds of thousands of workers in private firms and the public sector embroiled in bitter disputes over pay, jobs and services.