MEMBERS of Unite have voted to accept a pay deal for local council staff in Scotland.

The new offer, which will provide £1900 extra for staff earning less than £39,000 per year, was approved by 70% of members, the union said.

The vote takes Scotland’s council workers one step further away from strike action.

Unison members have also voted to accept the deal meaning all three unions representing local government workers in Scotland have now accepted the offer.

Officials from Unison say the improved pay offer was made due to members taking, and being prepared to take, industrial action.

Waste workers in Edinburgh walked out at the height of the festival season, while colleagues in other areas later also downed tools.

READ MORE: Glasgow City Council: Kelvingrove Art Gallery and City Chambers to be sold to meet equal pay claims

A deal with local authority body Cosla – brokered by marathon talks involving First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – later resulted in further strikes, and action proposed by non-teaching education staff, to be suspended.

The GMB union accepted the deal earlier this week.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s members have voted to accept a pay offer that will help them make ends meet during this cost-of-living crisis.

“Our members led from the front and throughout in this nationwide dispute, which started during the Edinburgh Fringe and then spread across Scotland.

“The package will deliver better jobs, terms and conditions for our members in local government, and they should be congratulated for the brave stand they took.”

But the union also hit out at the Scottish Government, saying it “will not tolerate” proposed cuts of £500 million as a result of the pay deals.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney – currently in control of Scotland’s finances – made the announcement last month, earmarking savings including £53 million from employability services and £37.6 million from lower than forecast uptake of concessionary travel.

Wendy Dunsmore, Unite's lead negotiator for local government, said: “The Scottish Government are already shamefully threatening to make £500 million of cuts to public services, which we will not tolerate.

“The robbing Peter to pay Paul narrative being spun by Government ministers that decent pay rises only come with another service in the public sector being slashed is dangerous and it will be fought inch by inch by Unite.”

Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland head of local government said: “Unison members have spoken and voted overwhelmingly to accept the improved pay offer and we will now press Cosla to get this money into members’ pay packets as quickly as possible.

“But let’s be very clear – it was only because Unison members took, and were prepared to take, industrial action that this improved pay offer was even made. If they hadn’t stood up to their employer they would have been forced to accept a derisory 2% increase.

“It was their collective strength that forced the Scottish Government to accept they had a role to play and come up with more money but it should never have got to that.”

SNP MSP Elena Whitham, a former council depute leader, said: “As the Tory-made cost of living crisis deepens, I’m delighted that local authority workers have accepted a pay deal that represents fairness for workers and affordability in these trying economic times.

“This news comes against the backdrop of the self-inflicted turmoil at Westminster in the early days of the Truss premiership - which has seen the pound tank, the UK government face stark criticism from the IMF and the Bank of England forced to intervene to protect pensions.

“While the Tories at Westminster squeeze the poor to give immoral handouts to the richest, the SNP Scottish Government works with its partners to help those on the lowest incomes."