A DECISIVE Tory election win could lead to a ban on strikes and renewed attacks on workers' rights.

Grahame Smith, General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, is warning of the potential onslaught he fears may come by an emboldened Tory government, surpassing even the crackdown on unions imposed in the Thatcher era.

Smith suggests he is prepared for the worst. "It's a significant and worrying threat and certainly has echoes of the types of approaches that were there in the 1980s," he said.

A Tory government with an overwhelming majority, he believes, may be minded to go even further than Thatcher and ban strikes in the public sector. "Even they at that time wouldn't have conceived of that," he said of the idea, which he argues may follow an emphatic Conservative General Election win.

He highlighted remarks from former senior ministers who served under Thatcher, such as former Chancellor Lord Lawson, who said that Brexit was a "historic opportunity" to finish "the job which Margaret Thatcher started".

"I'm quite sure there are a number of Conservative MPs and perhaps even some future cabinet ministers who would see the trade unions as unfinished business as far as they are concerned and would move on the unions in a more draconian way than was even in the Trade Union Act," he remarked.

Smith spoke to the Sunday Herald soon after the STUC's annual congress in Aviemore last month, where speakers included Nicola Sturgeon, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his Scottish counterpart Kezia Dugdale.

It's something Smith is keen to highlight, maintaining that having Sturgeon, Corbyn and Dugdale address the congress shows the relevance of the STUC.

"If we simply relied on the relationship with one political party we would have made ourselves vulnerable if that party suffered a demise", Smith says when asked whether Scottish Labour's decline had set back the cause of trade unionism.

Despite having a number of its member unions aligned to Labour, the STUC itself is not affiliated to the party.

It's keeping this distance Smith insists that has helped the STUC enjoy a positive relationship with the SNP since it came to power 10 years ago.

"Since they took office in 2007 they've been looking for constructive dialogue with the STUC," says Smith who had led the half-million member trade union body for over a decade.

Despite the STUC's cross-party relations, Smith has been a card carrying Labour member for decades.

It's something he has always been open about because of his membership of public bodies such as Skills Development Scotland. But it's also a matter he says that is entirely separate from his work for the STUC and has not brought him into conflict with SNP ministers or others.

Smith said: "I've not made any bones about the fact that I've been a longstanding member of the Labour Party.

"I very consciously separate that out from the job I do as general secretary of the STUC."

Smith joined the STUC in 1986 as an assistant secretary, with responsibility for health, social services and education and training. He was educated at Bishopbriggs High School, outside Glasgow, and obtained an Honours Degree in Economics and Industrial Relations at Strathclyde University. In 1996 he was promoted to Deputy General Secretary and in 2006 to the STUC's top job.

There's little doubt, as he points out, that the organisation has enjoyed good relations with the Scottish Government during the SNP era and Smith himself is known to have a good understanding with the party's leadership.

He highlighted how Alex Salmond had signed a 'memorandum of understanding' with the STUC during his time as First Minister.

"Principles around it are about access to ministers, access to First Minister and access to civil servants," Smith said.

Sturgeon also used her speech to the congress to emphasise the importance of ensuring the voice of unions was heard in government.

So has the STUC been hard enough on a Government that has faced criticism from some unions over its record on clamping down on firms involving blacklisting and extending the living wage to contractors?

"The Scottish Government are far from perfect as to how they address a number of issues", Smith said, as he talked about areas "we'd like them to go further" on.

Smith goes onto praise it for appointing a cabinet minister for fair work – Keith Brown – as well as launching a 'fair work convention' aimed at improving life in the workplace.

However, in a suggestion that the STUC's patience with the SNP government is not limitless, he adds: "To say you have a Cabinet minister with the name 'fair work' means nothing unless you walk the walk and it's our job as the STUC to continue to press the Government."

Smith says that, despite the STUC's neutral stance on the issue of independence, he feels that if there had been a Yes vote in 2014 unions would have been listened to more during that transition than they have been by UK ministers over Brexit.

He said: "I expect that if there had been a vote for independence the trade union movement would have been involved in some way in the negotiations and discussions.

"Contrast that with the way the UK Government had not engaged the trade union movement in the negotiations over Brexit."

Smith,, who refuses to say how he voted in 2014, speaks about how the STUC adopted a "very common sense position by not advocating a Yes over No or No over Yes".

Whether that common sense approach will work if, as expected, Smith's fears are realised and the Tories win a handsome majority will be put to the test in the coming months.