DHL drivers near Glasgow are being balloted for strike action in a row over pay and working conditions, a union has said.

Unite Scotland confirmed that around 90 DHL drivers based at the multi-user site in Bellshill will be taking part in an industrial action ballot.

The vote opens today (October 20) and is set to close on November 3.

If the ballot is successful the union says strike action, and action short of a strike is expected to take place from mid-November 2021 to early February 2022.

Unite Scotland has launched the ballot due to a "lack of progress" in pay talks with DHL, and after 85% of its members voted in a consultative ballot to hold such a vote.

The trade union said members are also in dispute with the company over "failure to look at improving the working hours of drivers" and their wider terms and conditions.

Unite said it has "repeatedly" highlighted its concerns over the increase in the working hours of logistics and HGV drivers across the UK, reported driver shortages, and the "need for better wages and conditions" across the industry.

Debbie Hutchings, Unite industrial officer, said: "The pay offer made by DHL didn’t address the need to increase the hourly rates for the majority of contracts within the collective agreement, which we have with the company.

"DHL need to get their head out of the sand and recognise what is going on within the logistics sector. Other companies, and in fact other DHL sites, have done far more to address the hourly rates, working hours and conditions for drivers, while our members on the Bellshill site are feeling like the poor relation.

"The impact of driver shortages is already being felt by consumers and businesses, yet DHL Bellshill don’t appear to want to address the various issues affecting the drivers on their site. 

"Unite is prepared to have further talks with DHL to look at ways which will improve the offer but management have so far not wanted to re-start those negotiations. This is not the position our members want to be in but management need to wake up to what is going on around them in the logistics industry, and if they do not, then our industrial action ballot will make them sit up and take notice."

DHL has been approached for comment.