Holyrood faces its own winter of discontent as 150,000 vote to strike

SCOTLAND faces a potentially crippling industrial dispute as unions representing more than 150,000 council employees yesterday announced their members had voted to strike.

On the day that many Scottish Government civil servants took part in a one-day strike over pay, GMB Scotland and Unite confirmed their members had backed industrial action.

Unison, the biggest of the local government unions, is set to confirm today that its members have also decided to strike.

Senior staff from all three unions will meet today to decide what action should be taken.

The unions have warned that strikes will mean schools closed, rubbish uncollected and many other areas of local government work grinding to a halt.

It is expected that the unions will start with one-day walkouts, but will escalate the action if the deadlock is not broken.

Members of the three unions are furious over the pay offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) of just 2.5 per cent a year for the next three years.

The offer is better than the 2.4 per cent deal in England which has provoked action south of the Border, but they say it does not keep pace with the cost of living. They point out that gas prices are to go up 35 per cent, bread and milk are up 14 per cent, butter 31 per cent and eggs 39 per cent.

"It's no wonder our members have rejected this deal," said Alex McLuckie of GMB Scotland.

A Unison spokesman added: "Yesterday's announcements of further major hikes in heating bills will have confirmed the need for the employers to seriously address the shortcomings in their offer."

David Mundell, the shadow Scottish secretary, blamed Gordon Brown's government for the problems. "His weakness has created a have-a-go atmosphere for the unions," he said. "Both Scotland's governments now need to tackle this strike and protect public services."

Cosla has insisted there is no more money available. Michael Cook, its spokesman, said: "I am naturally saddened that our trade union colleagues are moving towards strike. I believe that our current differences are best resolved through negotiation and we are available for constructive discussion that takes us towards a mutually agreed solution."

The Scottish Government has said it is an issue for Cosla to resolve. A spokesman added: "The Scottish Government has provided record funding for local government despite an extremely tight financial climate."

There was a dispute over how many civil servants took part in the strike called by the Public and Commercial Services Union yesterday.

PCS said 95 per cent of its members took part, but the Scottish Government insisted that 19 per cent of staff and 41 per cent of PCS's members were on strike.

PCS has claimed that the government insists on a cap of 2 per cent on pay rises, but the government says it has offered up to 20 per cent for the lower paid.