Trade unions have suspended planned strike action by waste workers after a new pay offer from council leaders.

The proposed deal would see a 3.6% increase for all grades of staff, with a rise of £1,292 for the lowest paid, equivalent to 5.63%.

Unite, GMB and Unison had taken the weekend to consider the proposal which it will now put to its members.

However, the three unions are taking different views on the new offer - with Unison saying it will recommend that its members reject it while Unite is urging acceptance. GMB did not say what it's reommendation to members would be.

Staff in 26 of Scotland’s 32 council areas planned to walk out from August 14 to 22 after rejecting two previous wage increases made by local government body Cosla.

READ MORE: Council leaders working 'at pace' to resolve bin strikes

Cosla made the new offer on Friday after the Scottish Government found more money to help councils pay for it.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison warned it was at the "absolute limit of affordability".

The unions had previously been offered a 3.2% rise, backdated to April.

In  a statement this morning, Unite confirmed that following a meeting of its local government committee earlier a ballot will now commence on the new pay offer. It will open on August 15 and close on September 5.

Graham McNab, Unite’s lead negotiator for local government said: “Unite members across all of Scotland’s councils should be applauded for standing firm. They have remained resolute in an effort to secure a fairer and better pay offer.

READ MORE: Bin workers face rats and missiles as pay dispute rumbles on

“We believe that the new pay offer is credible. For the first time in years, it will mean all council workers receiving an above inflation increase."

“Unite will now suspend the eight days of strike action so a ballot can take place on the new offer.” 

Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser in public services, said: “This offer is a significant improvement on what came before but our members will decide if it is acceptable.

“It is better than that offered to council staff in England and Wales, would mean every worker receives a rise higher than the Retail Price Index and, importantly, is weighted to ensure frontline workers gain most.

“As a gesture of goodwill, we will suspend action until our members can vote on the offer.

“It should never have got to this stage, however, and Scotland’s council leaders have again shown an absolute lack of urgency or sense of realism.

“For months, we have been forced to waste time discussing a series of low-ball offers when it was already clear the Scottish Government needed to be at the table.

"The obvious reluctance of some council leaders to approach ministers has only caused needless uncertainty and threatened disruption.

“That is no way to run a railroad or conduct serious pay negotiations.”

Unison Scotland local government lead, David O’Connor, said: “Unison has suspended recycling and street cleansing strikes while staff are consulted on Cosla’s latest offer.

“Unison’s view is that it’s still not enough. Council staff have seen the value of their pay reduced by 25% over the past 14 years and any pay deal needs to do more to reverse this.

“The union has been clear all along that the wage deal needs to work for everyone in local government. This pause will provide some breathing space for further dialogue.”

On Sunday, one government minister said she was "quietly hopeful" the offer would be sufficient to resolve the dispute.

Two years ago a 12-day strike by refuse workers saw litter building up in the streets, particularly in Edinburgh where the city was hosting its summer festivals.

Public Health Scotland was forced to declare a health warning due to an accumulation of waste in urban areas.

The dispute was eventually resolved in early September, but only after an intervention from then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Responding to the unions suspending strike action, Scottish Conservative shadow secretary for finance and local government Liz Smith said: “While there will be relief at the likely last-minute avoidance of strike action, it’s another case of the SNP leaving it until the eleventh hour before they face the consequences of their underfunding of basic council services.

“Time and again, they claim there is no money available, only to find it at the last possible moment after huge disruption.

“Now they have to explain where this funding, which they said was impossible, is coming from, and what is being cut elsewhere to provide it.”

Andrew McRae, Federation of Small Businesses Scotland Policy Chair, said:

“Small business owners up and down the country will breathe a sigh of relief, not least in Edinburgh and Glasgow where many vividly remember piles of stinking rubbish driving customers away from their doors during the last bin strike two years ago.

“The efforts of politicians and the unions to find a compromise to settle this dispute without a repeat of such damaging disruption will not go unnoticed. The threat of industrial action will only be lifted entirely when members off all three unions involved agree to what is on offer, until then tens of thousands of local businesses will be keeping their fingers tightly crossed.”