Bins could go a week without being emptied after refuse workers across 15 council areas in Scotland voted for strike action later this month.
Around 1,500 members of the Unite union will walk out on August 24 after rejecting a "pitiful" two per cent pay offer from Cosla.
Some 250 staff at Edinburgh City Council have already said they plan to walk out over a pay dispute on August 18 and 30 – at the height of the busiest time of the year for the city due to the Fringe festival.
But the union has said that about 1,500 members will join colleagues in the Capital in strike action on August 24 and 31.
Among the councils which will see strike action are Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, East Ayrshire, Inverclyde, Falkirk, Aberdeen, Highland and Dundee.
Unite regional officer Wendy Dunsmore said local authority staff had “had enough of substandard settlements and deserve a decent wage” to counter the effects of the cost-of-living crisis.
"The failure of both Cosla and the Scottish Government to work to bring an improved offer to the table that could have halted this action means any blame for where we are now should be directed back to them,” she added.
"Unite will not tolerate that local government workers are the consistent poor relations and members have now had enough.
"We are calling once again on Cosla to make a fair and decent offer to workers now in order to avoid the forthcoming wave of strikes.”
The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said staff were upset by the "procrastination between Cosla and the Scottish Government" and pledged the organisation’s support for striking staff.
A spokesman for Cosla said: "We held constructive discussions with Scottish Government last week. Leaders met virtually on Friday and at this meeting agreed that they needed further information.
"Given the importance of a pay award for our workforce, council leaders wanted to seek further clarification from both the Scottish Government and the UK Government and will reconvene this week to further consider this matter."
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