The head of Scotland's largest trade union has questioned whether £20 million should be spent on planning for a second independence referendum at a time when public services face cuts.
Tracey Dalling, the Scottish Secretary of Unison, insisted an IndyRef2 was "not a priority" given other issues facing other country.
Kate Forbes last week warned the number of people employed in the public sector could not continue to rise due to spending constraints.
The SNP finance secretary published a spending review which promised more cash for the NHS and social security - but froze the budgets of local authorities.
Unions have warned that up to 30,000 public sector jobs could now be at risk of being cut.
But Forbes also committed £20 million for IndyRef2 in the same spending review.
Dalling - who represents 150,000 workers in Scotland - warned that strike action could be on the cards if ministers carried out their plans to slash spending in a bid to plug a £3.5 billion funding gap in the Holyrood budget.
Asked if she thought the £20 million set aside to hold an IndyRef2 should be a priority, the union boss told the Herald : "It depends on your political persuasion, I would suggest, whether or not you think £20 million is a good use of money. Democracy costs money, there's no two ways about it, regardless of what kind of democratic process the money is set aside for that.
"But would I consider it to be a priority given everything I am looking at right now? No I wouldn't."
Dalling added: "I think they need to be making a serious statement to the UK Government about what Scotland's priorities are.
"And I think they need to revisit what is a priority for your average working person and that is a job."
"We will be making all sorts of representation to the Scottish Government about their proposals alongside most of the other trade unions.
"I don't think there is a single organisation out there, that represents workers in the public sector, that are saying this is in any way acceptable. There needs to be a revisit of these proposals which need to be completely reworked."
Nicola Sturgeon last week blamed the UK Government for the financial challenges facing Scotland.
"As a result of United Kingdom Government decisions, our budget this year has been cut by more than 5 per cent in real terms, and growth in our budget over the next four years will be constrained to 2 per cent, while inflation is close to 10 per cent. Of course, thanks to the folly of Brexit, inflation is higher in the UK than it is in any other G7 country," she said at First Minister's Questions.
"I think that spending £20 million—0.05 per cent, or one half of one tenth of 1 per cent, of the entire Scottish Government budget—to give the people of this country the opportunity to choose a better future is, and will be, a really good investment."
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