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Workers at a factory in Dumfries are to be balloted over industrial action in a dispute over pay.

Gates Power Transmission has maintained full production during the Covid pandemic and made parts for ventilators.

Union GMB Scotland described a pay offer of 0.5% over the next 18 months as "paltry".

Workers will be balloted between 21 June and 5 July on the possibility of industrial action.

GMB Scotland organiser Ude Joe Adigwe said: "A below-inflation pay offer is an absolute insult for workers who Gates insisted were part of the frontline response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Full production has been maintained at the Dumfries site over the last 15 months, with workers producing parts for ventilators as well as the core business of driving belts for cars.

"By sacrificing their own wellbeing, they have helped the business generate an excellent financial outlook in these unprecedented times."

He said there was "no excuse" for the failure to give workers the "proper recognition and value that their efforts deserve".

The company has been asked to comment.