Row erupts between Union and Royal Mail

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New strikes hit Irvine and Kilwinning today

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STRIKES: Workers in the Irvine office have been holding weekly strikes since June.

IRVINE'S postal saga has been hit with a new twist after it emerged some workers were sent home without pay following their refusal to work an extra half hour last week.

Local union rep Tam Dewar said Royal Mail workers were asked to carry out "overtime" on Friday, but three refused to do so and were subsequently sent home.

Mr Dewar, the CWU Area Delivery Rep for Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway, said following their dismissal these workers even offered to deliver some of the mail delayed by strike action for free, but were told not to by "senior management".

However the Royal Mail have hit back at his accusation and say the work they were asked to do relates to the 2007 Pay and Modernisation Agreement and is not classed as overtime.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "The accusation is simply rubbish. We ask our staff to abide by the 2007 agreement which means, for instance, if a worker works half an hour extra one week then the next week they can work for half an hour less.

"This is not overtime."

24 hour strike action is today under way in Irvine and Kilwinning delivery offices.