Council workers have been urged to reject a recently revised pay offer made by COSLA.

A consultative ballot of UNISON members will run until November 7, with the trade union asking workers to reject the pay offer, which they say would see local government staff get less in their pay packet than the teachers they work alongside.

Last year, the Scottish Government agreed a bigger pay increase for teachers than that given to other local authority workers.

And officials at UNISON have slammed Holyrood chiefs for finding additional money to improve teachers’ pay again this year without releasing funds to improve the pay of local government workers.

Mark Ferguson, chair of UNISON Scotland’s Local Government Committee, said: “A decade of austerity has led to staffing shortages in key areas of local government such as social care and school staff and many of our members are relying on foodbanks to get by.

“The government and COSLA must do more to address these issues and we urge them to get back around the table with trade unions.”