Bin strikes across Perth and Kinross, Fife and Stirling could be back on after members of a union voted to reject the latest pay offer.
Thousands of council workers represented by Unison have overwhelmingly knocked back the latest proposed pay deal from umbrella body Cosla.
A total of 86% of those balloted rejected an hourly increase of 67p or 3.6% – whichever is higher.
All bin strikes across Tayside, Fife and Perth were suspended on August 12 after a fresh pay offer was made to members of Unison, Unite and GMB.
Last week, GMB confirmed its members had accepted the offer.
However, Unison says the offer falls short of expectations.
Unison ‘has mandates for bin strikes in Perth and Kinross, Fife and Stirling’
The union says it has mandates for strike action by waste and recycling workers at 13 councils, including Perth and Kinross, Fife and Stirling.
Unison will now discuss the next steps in the coming days – with the prospect of bin strikes going ahead.
Colette Hunter, Unison Scotland local government committee chair, said: “Cosla and the Scottish Government need to understand the anger among council staff.
“They want a fair increase to stop their pay consistently falling behind, and for their wage increase to be in line with other areas of the economy.
“The last thing anyone wants to do is go on strike, but local government workers deserve better.
“This result must be a wake-up call and get the employers and government to invest in local services and the staff who deliver them.”
Cosla: ‘This offer exhausts all available funding’
Cosla says the offer has an above-inflation “overall value of 4.27%”.
A spokesperson said: “This offer is at the absolute limit of affordability for local government and fully exhausts all available additional funding from Scottish Government.
“Local government have a responsibility to ensure sustainable service delivery for our communities across Scotland.
“We are clear that increasing the value of any pay offer would have very serious consequences.
“We remain concerned that Unison’s expectations cannot be met without further unpalatable difficult decisions.”
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