Cleansing and waste workers in Helensburgh are to be balloted on strike action in an ongoing dispute over pay.

Unite, Scotland’s largest union, announced on May 29 that it has served industrial action notices to 29 councils in an escalating pay row.

Council services in Helensburgh and Lomond, and across the Argyll and Bute Council area, are all set to be affected if Unite's members back strike action.

The trade union confirmed that it will ballot thousands of its members in cleansing and waste services across all but three Scottish local authority areas from June 5 until July 1.

If members vote in favour of industrial action, Unite says, strikes could begin from July.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members undertake vital frontline jobs. Despite the essential work they do, they have seen their pay eroded for years, and they are simply no longer prepared to tolerate this situation.

“COSLA and the Scottish government have been warned that they must do far more to meet the pay aspirations of our members. 

"The blame for any strike action taking place will lie at their doors.

“We will back our members all the way in the fight for better jobs, pay and conditions in local government."

Last Friday (May 24), Unite confirmed that its local government representatives had rejected outright a formal pay offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).

The offer comprises a 2.2 per cent rise, effective from April 1 to September 30, and then two per cent for a 12-month period, effective from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025.

A spokesperson for Cosla said: “We believe that this is a strong, fair and credible offer which reflects the high value council leaders place on the local government workforce and the invaluable work they do every day to serve our communities.”

The only Scottish council areas not affected by the dispute are in Clackmannanshire, East Lothian and Orkney.