Perth primary schools close as strikes target Swinney constituency

The GMB and Unite wanted their members to get the 3.6% rise they voted for as soon as possible. This would be backdated to April.

However, Unison has warned of a national strike ballot if the dispute is not resolved.

The union believes more needs to be done to address what it sees as the long-term decline in the value of council pay.

It argued that council staff have seen the value of their pay fall by 25% over the last 14 years and said councils have faced problems recruiting staff for some roles.

John Swinney told BBC Scotland News it was “totally unacceptable” for his constituents to be singled out for industrial action just because he is first minister.

He added: “The pay deals being offered by Cosla addressed the two issues that were put to local government by the three trade unions involved.

“One of which was to ensure that the pay rise was better than the one offered to local government workers in England.

“And one was to ensure that progress was being made to work towards higher salaries for lower earning workers. Both of those were met.

“The finance secretary made clear that we’ve put more money into local government to help fund the deal and we have no more money to offer and that remains my position.”