RUBBISH could pile up on the streets across Scotland in a summer of discontent.

As the Scottish TUC Congress kicks off in Aviemore today, the federation’s leader Grahame Smith warned that “the industrial temperature in Scotland will continue to rise in the face of further cuts to local services.”

General union GMB is set to run a consultative ballot to reject a 3 per cent pay offer by Scottish councils.

The union’s lead negotiator Drew Duffy said members had been “hammered in terms of pay” and had “had enough.”

He told the Sunday Herald: “Over the next few weeks we’ll ballot members on rejecting this offer because it’s not good enough.

“Then, if [councils] and the government don’t talk to us, we’ll move to a full ballot on industrial action.”

The GMB’s members include refuse collectors — who could paralyse bin rounds across Scottish towns and cities at the height of the summer.

Scotland is also facing the prospect of a national teachers’ strike. Unions led by the Education Institute of Scotland have called for a 10 per cent pay rise.

EIS president Nicola Fisher said pay restraint over the past decade had created a “profound and damaging impact on teachers’ morale.”

The STUC’s general council motion will propose a motion on public services at Congress.

STUC vice-president Lynn Henderson is expected to say: “Breaking the public-sector pay cap is only the first step in a consolidated campaign to restore public worker pay levels to their pre-recession levels. Government at UK, Scottish and local levels are on notice that pressure will only increase as they consider their options in the next budget round.”