THOUSANDS of council workers across Scotland have agreed to call off a planned strike.

More than two thirds of members of trade union Unison voted against the industrial action.

Unison leaders have been embroiled in a bitter battle with council umbrella body Cosla over pay.

Unite and GMB members agreed to a 1% rise but Unison held out for an additional £1 an hour for every worker.

In September, just over half of members voted for a walkout.

But Cosla put a fresh deal on the table last month.

They pledged to implement the living wage and begin talks on a new pay deal for every worker.

Unison leaders put the offer to members and 70% have now indicated that the industrial action should be called off.

The union's regional officer for local government, Dougie Black, said: "Unison members voted to accept the offer and this is a considerable improvement both on low pay and getting employers to return to the agreed bargaining structures.

"However we should not underestimate the anger amongst our 72,000 local government members.

"They have seen a 14% reduction their pay since 2007, they have seen 40,000 jobs lost - meaning our members live with the stress which comes with having to do more work for less money."

Cosla's human resources spokesman Councillor Billy Hendry said: "We welcome this decision. Welook forward to both sides working constructively in the next round of pay negotiations."