Thousands of Perth and Kinross Council workers could go on strike before the end of the year.
UNISON has urged its PKC members to reject a new pay offer from COSLA of three per cent for those earning up to £80,000.
And the Perth and Kinross branch has told the PA they are prepared to go on strike if their demands are not met.
The trade union represents around 1000 council staff, around a third of the local authority’s full-time equivalent non-teaching staff.
Unite members have already rejected the pay deal, while the GMB has also advised members to vote against it.
Previously, the Scottish Government and COSLA
had offered a pay increase of three per cent for those earning up to £30,000 and two per cent for those earning more than this.
The new revised pay offer is for three per cent for all staff earning up to £80,000 backdated to April.
However, UNISON says this revised offer is no different from the previous rejected
offer for those on the lowest wages and is not in line with a recent pay increase for teachers.
Members are currently being balloted on the offer until November 7.
Stuart Hope, Perth and Kinross branch secretary for UNISON, said: “The revised pay offer was a very small increase and it doesn’t help our members at the lowest end of the pay scale.
“Speaking to our members recently, they are very upset and don’t think they are receiving a fair pay offer, certainly not in parity to teachers, and they are willing to vote for strike action.
“Of course it is always a last resort, but if that is what we are pushed to, we are willing to do that.
“Hopefully COSLA and the Scottish Government will listen to what is being said, but they have not shown they are willing to do that with this latest pay offer, so that doesn’t bode well for the future.
“We will know straight away what the count is because it is done digitally, so we will know within a week of the ballot what the next steps are.
“But this could be quite soon and we could have strike action before the turn of the year.”
He added: “It is disappointing that the employer chose not to engage the trade unions in meaningful negotiations before delivering their revised pay offer.
“Local government staff deliver vital services such as educating children, caring for vulnerable people, cleaning and protecting our communities, and much more serving the people of Scotland, they are no less deserving of a decent pay increase than teachers.”
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said if there was to be industrial strike action, they would prioritise work that affected the most vulnerable.
They said: “The pay deal for all councils is negotiated at a national level by COSLA and we support them in this matter.
“As the consultative ballot for UNISON members is still open for responses it would be premature to comment on the potential outcome of this.
“In any situation which could potentially disrupt council services we will prioritise the deliver of services which support the most vulnerable in our communities.”
The PA contacted COSLA for comment but had not received a reply before going to print.
However, COSLA resources spokeswoman Gail Macgregor had previously said the offer was “very fair”.
