The 3% pay offer for council workers in Scotland has been rejected by members of Unison Scotland.

The ballot saw 79% of members voting in favour of rejecting the offer, which was made to all staff earning up to £80,000. Seven out of ten members (67%) also voted to take industrial action.

Johanna Baxter, head of local government (bargaining) at the union, said: 'What this result demonstrates is a real anger and frustration amongst Unison members at the lack of action by CoSLA and the Scottish government to address the serious issue of low pay in local government.

'Unison will talk to other local government trade unions on Friday to discuss further action and we will inform employers of the ballot results then.

'As the Scottish government prepare their budget we will put further pressure on them to make more money available to fund a decent pay rise for local government staff. Local government workers have endured a decade of real-terms pay cuts, and they have now simply had enough.'

In response, COSLA's resources spokesperson, Cllr Gail Macgregor said: 'Obviously my first reaction is one of disappointment at the outcome of the ballot. We value our workforce and our 3% offer matches other offers within the public sector in Scotland. However, whilst disappointed, we as employers look forward to discussing this with UNISON at our joint meeting today.'