POSTAL workers at a Borders delivery office could be set for strike action following claims that a postman was dismissed for becoming a shop steward.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at Duns have requested a ballot on industrial action in support of colleague Tony Garrick. He was on a trial contract when he became a union representative, but was dismissed late last year, the union claims, because he confronted management over working conditions.
Willie Marshall, CWU branch secretary, told TheSouthern: “He was doing an exceptionally-good job, which was not pleasing the management and they made trumped-up charges – you’d need to be pretty bad to get dismissed as a trialist, to be honest.”
Mr Marshall said the union had an agreement with Royal Mail whereby the dismissal of a union rep can be appealed at a national level – Mr Garrick had not had this opportunity.
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “Royal Mail can confirm that a postman from Duns delivery office was dismissed and we do not comment on individual cases.”