Large swathes of Scotland are facing overflowing bins after talks failed to halt further strikes.
Bin workers in around a dozen council areas, including Glasgow, will follow staff tomorrow in Edinburgh who have already walked out over a bitter pay dispute.
Sources told the Record council bosses and unions did not reach a deal at an emergency summit that could have ended strike action by the GMB, Unison and Unite trade unions.
However, an agreement was reached by both sides to demand more funding from the Scottish Government.
COSLA, which represents local authorities, initially offered council staff a 3.5 per cent rise - an increase that led to the strike.
An extra £140m from the Scottish Government led to COSLA increasing the offer to 5 per cent, but unions wanted clarity at the summit.
It is understood a key sticking point is the unions’ call for low income workers to benefit from a flat rate, rather than all workers receiving a standard percentage rate.
The latter approach would give more in cash terms to well off staff.
GMB and Unite members in Edinburgh started their 12 day strike last week, a walk out timed to coincide with the Festival.
Pictures of overflowing bins and tourist hotspots strewn with litter have made the Capital an international laughing stock in recent days.
A failure to agree a pay deal means that waste and recycling workers in Unite will likely strike from tomorrow in over a dozen council areas.
Unite industrial officer Wendy Dunsmore added: “Unite has rejected outright the 5 per cent pay offer and strike action across 14 councils will go ahead. It’s a sad indictment that council workers in Scotland are being offered substantially less than their counterparts in England.”
“The cold hard reality is that inflation and energy costs are soaring – and they are predicted to rise even higher. The 5 per cent today will not be worth the same in a matter of months when the cost of living crisis will bite even harder. The offer on the table just doesn’t help the lowest paid make ends meet.”
“This dispute will continue to escalate to a point where it could now go beyond the winter causing months of massive nationwide disruption. The blame for this will lie squarely at the doors of COSLA and the Scottish Government.”
Johanna Baxter, UNISON Scotland’s head of local government, said: “It was a very long meeting but unfortunately there has been no breakthrough and we are a long way from a pay offer that we would be able to recommend to our members.
“COSLA negotiated within the cost envelope that leaders mandated them but that simply isn’t enough and goes nowhere near matching the pay offer provided to council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“The only thing that both parties could agree on is that we need the urgent intervention from the Deputy First Minister to put additional funding in place and both will be writing to the Deputy First Minister to that effect today.”
A COSLA Spokesperson said: “We met with our Trade Union Colleagues earlier today. It was both a constructive and a productive meeting and a new firm offer has now been put to them. It is our hope that they will now take this offer away and consult their membership on it.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
