UNIONS have been invited by a Scottish local authority to discuss "new proposals" aimed at ending a dispute with staff.
Stirling Council has said the talks would focus on how to "protect pay, conditions and public services in the future".
The dispute has centred on the council's plan for a 0.5% cut to pay across all the local authority's pay grades and an additional hour of work per week.
However, trade unions said the council had "no intention" of moving on the issues of pay cuts and longer hours.
The Unison, Unite, Ucatt and GMB unions have previously claimed that the council's proposals would effectively mean a 1.5% pay cut because council workers elsewhere in Scotland had accepted a 1% increase in pay.
Employees at the authority held a one-day strike on Monday August 26, with members of the IT department staging an additional selective strike earlier this month.
In a statement, the council claimed about 2700 employees - some 90% of all staff members - had signed up to the new arrangements, which will come into effect in November.
However, unions said their members were only signing up "under protest" in order to keep their jobs.
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