SCHOOLS and nurseries across Scotland look set to be hit by closures next month weeks after pupils return from summer after the new leader of the country's largest union revealed she is confident workers will support heading out on strike.
Lilian Macer, the Scottish Secretary of Unison, who was appointed on August 1, said that soundings taken of its 30,000 members working in both primaries and secondaries who are being balloted in a pay dispute, have indicated they will vote in favour of mass action.
She said that "sustained industrial action" hitting schools could last for weeks and called on the Scottish Government and the council umbrella organisation Cosla, which represents employers, to get round the table and negotiate with her union.
The Unison ballot opened at the beginning of the month and runs until August 25 for its members who work in schools and nurseries attached to primaries across Scotland's 32 local authorities after it rejected an offer of 5% from Cosla.
