Volunteers at a charity shop dubbed "the Harrods of Glasgow" are withdrawing their labour over allegations they are being undermined and demeaned.

Women working in the Marie Curie shop - styled as The Designer Room at G12 - in Glasgow's upmarket Hyndland area are to demonstrate outside the store in an attempt to persuade senior management of the validity of their concerns.

Those among the 14 volunteers walking out include a 91-year-old and women who have been donating their labour to the charity for upwards of 20 years.

Marie Curie, in response, said the charity upholds "high standards of care and respect for all our employees and volunteers" and said the matter had been resolved, reports our sister title The Herald.

However, Monday morning's walkout - a move that would ordinarily be an anathema to the volunteers - would suggest otherwise.

The charge is being led by volunteer Ann Hamilton, who has given her time to Marie Curie for 10 years.

Mrs Hamilton said: "We believe this is the first time charity shop volunteers have gone 'on strike' in this way but that shows the strength of feeling here."

The mutiny concerns the treatment of the former manager of the store, who last year had asked to alter her hours but was told she would have to accept a demotion in order to reduce her hours.

Mrs Hamilton said the situation came to a head and the manager felt forced to resign, leaving the volunteer team feeling the loss of a respected colleague.

The group said they felt the manager had been treated extremely poorly and pettily and a temporary area manager, drafted in to run the shop, was, they allege "demeaning, petty and negative".

Mrs Hamilton said: "We have been told that the issues have been addressed but there has been no investigation into what happened and [volunteers] have never been asked our views.

"We witnessed her hurt and distress at the lack of any concern for her and we expected much better from a respected charity.

"I have been in correspondence with Marie Curie's head HR officer for seven months now to complain about some of the things we witnessed and I am only told that the situation has been resolved - but it has not."

The volunteer team eventually contacted the board of Marie Curie to seek its support and flowers were then sent to the former manager with an apology.

However, Mrs Hamilton added: "It was too little, far too late.

"We have been patronised and taken for granted. There are women working here who have volunteered for many years and who deserve recognition and respect."

The group is appealing to local councillors, MSPs and MPs to support them and join their "picket line". In a letter of appeal to politicians, the group added: "We feel we have been put in an impossible position where we are criticising a charity we have collectively spent many years supporting and promoting.

"We believe this to be the first time a group of volunteers has had to take such drastic action."

Lieve Sutherland has been volunteering at the Marie Curie store for around six years and, the Belgian national said, the role was a way of giving back to her new community, which had made her and her family so welcome.

Mrs Sutherland said the decision to down tools had been an agonising one to take but that she and her fellow protestors feel they had run out of other options.

She was very keen to stress the group's ongoing support for the charity and for the store but said the situation had become untenable.

Mrs Sutherland said: "It was very difficult for us when our manager left yet the charity never took into account how we might feel.

"The shop is always spic and span and because of the area in which it sits, we have high quality items and generate a good amount of money for Marie Curie - they call it the Harrods charity shop of Glasgow and not for nothing.

"The senior management give out these big words but they are just words - or 'blah, blah, blah' as a young Swedish activist might say."

The store is believed to raise tens of thousands of pounds a year for the end of life charity given its location in a leafy area of the city.

Mrs Sutherland added: "I feel almost bad for them because they don't seem to realise how serious this is and how seriously we are taking it.

"They know what we are up to, us rebels, and I hope they don't view it as an attempt to damage the charity.

"Au contraire: we care very deeply about Marie Curie and we want this to be the catalyst for a resolution."

A Marie Curie spokesperson said: "We uphold high standards of care and respect for all our employees and volunteers and have thoroughly investigated the matter which has been resolved with the former employee involved.

"While we are unable to discuss personal details, we can confirm that the investigation was not related to any accusations of bullying.

"As a charity that puts people at the heart of everything we do."

The spokesperson added: "We are thankful for all our dedicated staff and volunteers. "They are integral to helping us raise much-needed funds to enable us to deliver vital care and support to people at the end of life and their loved ones, both in the comfort of their homes and in our Glasgow Hospice.”