Yesterday, the anger and frustration felt by local authority workers across Scotland was on display.

There is now a serious threat of widespread strike action by local government staff across Scotland - because of a scandalously low pay offer from the Scottish Government.

Local government workers south of the border have been offered a pay rise of £1925 - a 10% rise for the lowest paid.

In Scotland, those same staff have only been offered 2%. This in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.

In a move emblematic of the crisis facing us: McDonalds has chosen to increase the cost of their cheeseburger by 20% for the first time in 14 years.

Prices across the UK are increasing by 9.4% this year - a record breaking increase, and amongst the highest rises across the G7 nations.

The Scottish Government themselves set the benchmark when, just weeks ago, they offered train drivers for the newly nationalised ScotRail an increase of 5%. Going some way to recognise the catastrophe facing households.

Why do our cleansing staff, our school caterers, our health and social care staff not deserve at least the same respect from the Scottish Government?

For too long, the Scottish Government has sought to divide and conquer. They have cited their own budget constraints as justification for pitting public sector workers - public servants - against one another. This, despite their own budget seeing an 8% real terms increase from 2019/20.

But it is the continuation of a pattern. It comes on the back of a decade of cuts to council budgets and council services. It is just another hammer blow to the services that each of us relies on every single day.

The chronic underfunding and relentless evisceration of local government budgets harms us all. It harms the ability of local government to respond and react, and it diminishes the role that we can play in bringing up wages right across the city.

Take, for example, the third sector organisations across our city that provide vital and life-changing services. They work hard to give vulnerable people independence in their own lives, security in their homes and comfort in their communities.

Without these services, we would be lost. For the most part, these are services that are best delivered by local, community organisations who can respond quickly and flexibly to individual needs.

And yet, these organisations have been forced to choose between rewarding their staff, or continuing to deliver their services. And they have chosen services, and the people they seek to represent. This is all the more pressing now given the astronomical increases in costs.

Workers need our support here and now.

The Scottish Government’s finance secretary hides behind the pretence that somehow pay negotiations for local government staff have nothing to do with them - despite the fact that 80% of the size of local authority budgets are determined directly by the Scottish Government.

We cannot go on like this.

Council and frontline staff deserve a pay rise.

Third sector and voluntary staff deserve a pay rise.

They deserve better than the warm words and complete inaction from the Scottish Government.