Over 800 council workers in the Borders took part in a one day strike last month after an offer of a 2.5 per cent pay rise over three years was rebuked by all three unions involved.
The industrial action affected bin collections and saw a number of schools in Berwickshire closed just one day into the new term.
Now it seems further nationwide industrial action is inevitable after the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), who represent all 32 councils in Scotland, refused to increase their pay offer or agree to a new one year deal at inflation levels (4.4 per cent) that unions had hoped for.
They instead offered 2.5 per cent for a year with an increased pay offer to be negotiated at a later date but this was quickly dismissed by Union's UNISON, GMB and Unite.
Scottish Borders UNISON secretary Karen Horsley said: "Their offer of 2.5 per cent for the one year is not what we were looking for so it is very disappointing. They are obviously not listening."
She added that a meeting was due to take place tomorrow (Friday) with all Scottish UNISON branches where it would be decided how further action would taken, which has previously been discussed as selective action along with another one day strike.
Dougie Black, UNISON Regional Officer and Secretary to the Trade Union Negotiators, said his members were "bitterly disappointed and angry that the value of the offer has not been improved."
Stephanie Herd echoed her colleagues sentiments and added that: "Many of our members are amongst the lowest paid in the public sector and to give indications that the offer would be improved and then subsequently not will simply strengthen their resolve in pursuing a better offer.
"Further action is now inevitable and we will be talking to our fellow trade unions to pursue this."
GMB Scotland Senior Organiser for Public Services Alex McLuckie said: "We started these negotiations with the management saying they wished to resolve matters and we ended up two days later with the employers' side saying they did not have a mandate to negotiate.
"GMB Scotland believes this is a slap in the face to council workers who believed the employers were genuine when they said they wished to resolve this matter. This now means the Union will have no alternative, but to recommence industrial action if we want to improve the below inflation offer of 2.5%."
COSLA spokesperson and East Berwickshire councillor Michael Cook said that if the unions demands were to be met, services and jobs could be severely affected in the Borders.
He added: "The problem for us is that while we do sympathise with our workforce and the monetary pressures they are facing, we have a major difficulty because we are facing exactly the same pressures on budgets across the board. We have two roles and we have to strike a balance between that of an employer and that of a service deliverer."
Among the SBC services affected in the previous one day strike on Wednesday, August 20 were the closure of 14 primary schools, three nurseries and four secondary schools.
These included Ayton, Reston and Cockburnspath Primary Schools and Coldstream and Chirnside Nurseries, which could not open without striking janitors and cleaners. Binmen based in Duns serving Berwickshire also took part in the industrial action.
An estimated 150,000 council workers across Scotland took part in the strike action last month, with union leaders claiming their striking members were some of the lowest paid.