Members of Unite, Unison and the GMB working for local authorities across Scotland will strike for 24 hours on Wednesday, September 24 after talks with their council employers over a proposed pay deal broke down.

The last one-day strike on August 20 saw a host of council services disrupted on Bute as elsewhere across the country - and resulted in the cancellation of Caledonian MacBrayne's Rothesay-Wemyss Bay ferry service as pier workers at Rothesay harbour, which is owned by Argyll and Bute Council, joined in the stoppage.

The local authorities' umbrella body, Cosla, warned that it was facing exactly the same budget pressures as its workforce, while the Scottish government's finance secretary, John Swinney, said he had no extra resources to fund wage increases within the block grant provided by the UK government.

But Mr Swinney's protestations won him little sympathy from Argyll and Bute's Westminster MP, Liberal Democrat Alan Reid, who said: "How serious does the situation need to get before the SNP Government recognises that pay policy is its responsibility?

"SNP ministers must sort this out by getting around the negotiating table immediately. Public sector strikes have a direct impact on a whole range of services that we rely on, from ferries to children's schooling to emptying the bins.

"At a time when people across the country are already feeling hard pressed, having to cope with extra pressures couldn't come at a worse time."