A recent campaign highlighted the issue of unequal pay

Unison submitted the massive claim against Edinburgh City Council for catering, care and cleaning workers.

The union also accused council bosses of attempting to dodge compensation payouts by outsourcing the jobs.

The council said the union was "scaremongering" and insisted it had every intention of paying the bill.

It emerged this month in the Scottish Parliament that the council could face equal pay compensation claims of almost �30m.

This is a problem of the council's own making John Stevenson Unison

John Stevenson, Unison's Edinburgh branch secretary, said: "We have no alternative but to ensure each and every one of these 1,700 claims is pursued for full back payments from the council.

"That could cost the council millions of pounds more than it needed to. This is a problem of the council's own making."

Equal pay claims are a multi-million pound problem facing cash-strapped councils across Scotland.

An estimated 50,000 current and former employees, mainly women, including around 3,000 from the Scottish capital, are owed an average of �15,000 each for being underpaid.

In 1999 local authorities were given three years to repay monies owed but the dispute has still not been settled.

'Ongoing talks'

"We have been trying to get the national agreement implemented for years but the council has dragged its heels for so long that costs have grown," Mr Stevenson added.

The council said it had agreed a report earlier this month outlining a range of options on how the authority would foot the compensation bill.

Councillor Frank Russell, executive member for human resources, said: "We're having ongoing talks with Unison and don't see any need for them to be scaremongering through the media rather than discussing a way forward with us.

"It is our intention to offer a financial settlement to every individual employee, with a valid equal pay claim."