Thousands of local government workers are expected to strike today in the biggest show of trade union muscle since Labour came to power five years ago.

Rubbish collection, traffic wardens and street cleaning in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are just a few of the services affected.

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Ian Royle takes home �1,000 a month

To find out why council workers are angry, we spoke to one man, Ian Royle.

He's a local authority worker, who cleans up graffiti for a living. He lives in Salford, Greater Manchester and takes home �1,000 a month.

click here to watch Ian Royle's story

The three per cent pay offer is the Local Authorities' "line in the sand", according to the Local Authorities' chief negotiator, Charles Nolda.

Nolder: most local authorities can afford no more

He told Breakfast: "This is the average settlement in the UK economy this year - and only yesterday the Police Federation accepted the same figure.

"It's three times the rate of inflation and the vast majority of local authorities cannot afford any more."

click here to watch Breakfast's interview with Charles Nolda in full

So, is the honeymoon finally over between New Labour and the Trades Unions?

Claire Ward: relationship with the unions is better than predecessors'

Breakfast brought together the Blairite loyalist Claire Ward, who's the Labour MP for Watford, and Dave Prentis, who's the General Secretary of the public sector workers' union Unison.

Dave Prentis explained that today's action goes further than the strikes of 1979. Then, only the manual workers were on strike. Today, everyone, including higher managers, has been asked to down tools.

click here to watch Breakfast's debate in full: Claire Ward and Dave Prentis

Background

The first national 24-hour strike by council workers since 1979 is set to paralyse many services leading to the closure of schools, leisure centres, libraries and other facilities.

Dave Prentis: this time, managers are on strike

More than 1.2million workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will walk out on Wednesday in protest at a 3% pay offer. They want 6%.

They include school dinner ladies, caretakers, social workers, classroom assistants, library staff, architects, refuse collectors and surveyors.

Some earn less than �10,000 a year in full time posts.

They say they have seen their responsibilities rise, while pay has effectively stood still.

Picket lines will be set up outside council offices and buildings and marches and rallies will be held in towns and cities.

Support claim

Local authority employers say the unions' claim for a pay rise of 6% is equivalent to �80 a year on council tax bills and is therefore unaffordable without substantial job losses and cuts in services.

They also say that most workers do not want to strike - claiming only 25% of those eligible to vote backed industrial action, while many staff do not belong to any union.

But unions have hit back by accusing councils of "widespread intimidation" of workers ahead of the strike.

The Transport and General Workers Union claimed workers across the country were being threatened with privatisation, redundancy, pay and pension cuts and disciplinary action if they joined the walkout.

Union officials said there would still be solid support for the first one-day stoppage of several planned for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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