A dispute that could have led to rubbish mounting on the streets of Glasgow is off after unions voted to accept a last ditch offer from the city council.

The Herald understands there was a normal majority among GMB and Unite membership to accept the deal, which will see them getting 10 weeks during the year when the four days on, four days off rota will not apply.

The deal will also see the establishment of a working group to monitor the implementation of the new regime.

Although the unions will not receive the offer of stand-by payments as had previously been on the table, their leadership claimed that a work-life balance was more important.

It is also understood that while the GMB and Unite unions accepted the offer Unison, which has the smallest number of members in the dispute, rejected it.

The resolution comes as Edinburgh City Council confirmed that Unite has now officially served notice of its official industrial action, which will be "short of a strike", in the ongoing row over council plans to change pay structures, which could lead to wages being cut.

It is expected that the level of disruption will be similar to that of the unofficial action, which has now been going on for six weeks.

Resolution of the Glasgow dispute follows talks on Friday between unions and council officials, when the action planned to begin on Monday passed was postponed to allow workers to vote on the offer tabled at the meeting.

Last night, Martin Doran, of GMB, said his members would "continue to provide the citizens of Glasgow with a Rolls-Royce service".

He said: "We've balloted three sections of the workforce and they've decided to accept. Most of our members were more concerned about work-life balance and the offer on the table was the best under the circumstances.

"It was close run ballot but there was enough to carry it."

Councillor James McNally said: "I'm very pleased that we have been able to agree a positive deal with our workforce that will allow us to implement four-on, four-off working from Monday."