EQUAL pay disputes threatening to bankrupt councils across Scotland must lead to the creation of a new government body that can enforce payments, a GMB Scotland rep has said.

The call came after nearly 500 council staff went on strike in Falkirk, Renfrewshire and West Dumbartonshire this week, while workers doing similar jobs in Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Angus, Fife and Moray are also embroiled in ongoing disputes over equal pay.

The strikes were against a pay grading system which they say leaves women worse off than workers in comparable male-dominated jobs and followed walkouts by more than 8,000 female carers, caterers and cleaners in Glasgow in 2018.