SCOTLAND'S largest trade union is ready to target extra strike school closures in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, The Herald can reveal.

Unison's Scottish Secretary Lilian Macer warned a number of areas are being looked for possible additional campaigns as well as industrial action being held across the country.

She said the union, which is currently running a ballot of 30,000 non teaching staff in Scottish schools and nurseries, wants to have "maximum impact and maximum disruption" in its bid to achieve its pay demands for workers.

In addition to the Lanarkshire Westminster constituency, where a by-election is expected in October, the union could also target schools in the First Minster Humza Yousaf Holyrood seat of Glasgow Pollok and those in the education secretary Jenny Gilruth's Mid Fife and Glenrothes.

READ MORE: Schools set for strikes as Unison warns of sustained action

Detailed plans on what form of strike action will be taken will be decided by Unison's local branches and its local government committee after the ballot closes on August 25 and, as seems likely, the result is in favour of strike action.

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection is Mr Yousaf's first major electoral test since becoming SNP leader in April with many political observers seeing it as likely to be won by Labour. 

In her first interview since her appointment on August 1, Ms Macer was asked if the union's action could involve the targetting of  primaries, secondaries and nurseries in Rutherglen and Hamilton West and those in Mr Yousaf's and Ms Gilruth's seats.

"It could be. Nothing is off the table and we will consider where we can have maximum impact and maximum disruption," she told The Herald.

READ MORE: Lilian Macer interview: New face of trade union on her bold mission

"Quite frankly it will be where we get maximum impact. So we are at the stage where we are asking our members to withdraw their labour, then we need to make sure we have a maximum impact. And those committee structures through the branches will decide on the course of action."

She added: "There could be sustained industrial action, it could be intermittent, a day here, there. It could be weeks of action. It could be targeted to one school or another or could be across all of Unison Scotland's branches."

The Unison ballot opened at the beginning of the month and branches across Scotland's 32 local authorities are taking part after the union earlier rejected an offer of 5% from the councils' umbrella organisation Cosla, which is representing employers.

The Herald:

Lilian Macer, Scottish Secretary of Unison.   Photo Colin Mearns/The Herald.

Workers involved in any action would be janitors, cleaners, caterers, classroom assistants and administrative staff. Schools and nurseries affected would be forced to shut on strike days.

Unison are demanding a pay settlement that runs for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. It is calling for an increase of 12% or £4,000 whichever is the greater, depending on salary grades.

The teachers' union the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) ran a rolling programme of strikes in Scottish schools earlier this year. 

In mid February the EIS targeted schools in particular areas for additional days of strikes.

They were those in the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's Glasgow southside as well in the constituencies of the then Deputy First Minister John Swinney, the then education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scottish Green education spokesman Ross Greer and Katie Hagmann, the resources spokeswoman for local authority body Cosla. 

By early March the dispute had been resolved with the EIS accepting the Scottish Government's 28 month pay deal which was made up of a 7% rise between April 2022 and March 2023, a 5% uplift between April and December 2023, and a 2% increase between January and July 2024.

The Scottish Government claimed cumulatively, the deal amounted to an uplift of 12.4% by April 2023 and 14.6% from January 2024.

Members of the trade unions Unite and the GMB have already voted this summer in favour of strike action in schools.

The unions say that the dispute has escalated after council umbrella body Cosla failed to improve on the 5 per cent pay offer during talks last week.

Cosla has insisted that a "strong offer" had been made which "compares well to other sectors".

Earlier this year, Unison consulted its entire local government membership, some 84,000 workers, on Cosla's pay offer and 87 per cent voted to reject.

Any school strikes would cause further disruption for pupils who have already faced extended school closures in recent years during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the EIS strikes.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Local government pay negotiations are a matter for local authorities as employers and unions. The Scottish Government and Cosla have committed to respect this negotiating arrangement as part of the Verity House Agreement.

“Despite UK Government cuts, the Scottish Government has provided a further £155 million to support a meaningful pay rise for local government workers, which has been taken into account in the pay offer already made by Cosla.

“The Scottish Government urges all the parties involved to work together constructively and reach an agreement which is fair for the workforce and affordable for employers.”