STRIKE action is looming in Inverclyde after three trade unions voted to take part in industrial action in a row over pay.

Members of Unison, GMB and Unite have all voted in favour of industrial action in recent weeks, with Inverclyde among 14 areas in Scotland which are expected to be affected as council waste and recycling staff walk out.

A wage offer from council body COSLA which would have seen workers receive a 2.2 per cent increase from April 1 and an additional two per cent from October 1 was described earlier this week by Unison as ‘inadequate’ as over 95 per cent of its members back strike action in a ballot.

Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe today warned that any strike action would have ‘significant’ impact locally but said the local authority had not yet been notified of specific proposals for the district.

He said: “Now that all three unions have a mandate for strike action, I expect that co-ordinated action involving all three unions will be agreed at a national level, with the likelihood that the first strike will be in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival in August with further strikes in other authorities later in the month.

“We haven’t yet been notified of the specific proposals for Inverclyde.

“Any strike action by our waste operatives will have a significant impact as we saw two years ago.

“The extent of the impact will obviously be dependent on how long any strikes last.

“These are vital services however and the community will be affected if they go ahead.”

Councillor McCabe told the Telegraph that he believed the Scottish Government’s decision to freeze council tax this year had hampered the ability of councils to make a better pay offer.

He added: “I fully understand why the unions and their members feel the current pay offer is not acceptable.

“However, councils are in a financial crisis and the current offer on the table is more than most councils, including Inverclyde, have budgeted for.

“If we had not been forced into implementing a regressive council tax freeze, we would have been in a position to make a better pay offer to staff, which could have avoided strike action.

“The only way councils can afford to improve the pay offer is if we receive additional funding from the Scottish Government, as we did in 2022 and 2023.

“Unfortunately, the funding that could have been available for this purpose was spent on the council tax freeze, so it seems unlikely the Scottish Government will give us additional money to settle this dispute.

“I warned at the time the council tax freeze was imposed on councils that it would have consequences for our pay negotiations with our trade unions.

“It gives me no satisfaction that I have been proven to be right.”