Gregor Gall is a British left-wing academic and writer. He is research professor of industrial relations at the University of Hertfordshire

University of Hertfordshire

The University of Hertfordshire is a new university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 27,500 students, over 2500 staff, with a turnover of over £181m...

, but lives in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland. He was previously professor of industrial relations at the University of Stirling

University of Stirling

The University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...

. He researches and writes primarily about trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s, and has a particular interest in the labour movement

Labour movement

The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...

 politics of Scotland.

He is author and editor of numerous academic books, and is also a politically engaged academic, whereby he regularly writes for The Morning Star

The Morning Star

The Morning Star is a left wing British daily tabloid newspaper with a focus on social and trade union issues. Articles and comment columns are contributed by writers from socialist, social democratic, green and religious perspectives....

(fortnightly column), The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

's "Comment is free

Guardian.co.uk

guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...

" website, the Frontline magazine, and a number of other media like the journal of the Aslef union. He also provides research and consultancy to a number of unions, particularly the Fire Brigades Union

Fire Brigades Union

The Fire Brigades Union is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime Firefighters , Retained Duty System and Emergency Control Room staff...

, and is a frequent commentator in the media on matters of unions and industrial conflict. He is also a correspondent for Planetlabor.

Originally a member of Labour Students

Labour Students

Labour Students is a student organisation affiliated to the British Labour Party.Membership comprises affiliated college and university clubs . Membership of Labour Students is through membership of a university or college Labour Club. Affiliation is open to any Labour Club generally supportive of...

 and the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

, he ended his membership of these over the issue of the poll tax

Community Charge

The Community Charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", was a system of taxation introduced in replacement of the rates to part fund local government in Scotland from 1989, and England and Wales from 1990. It provided for a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the...

, then joining the Socialist Workers' Party

Socialist Workers Party (Britain)

The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...

 (SWP) in 1990. He joined the Scottish Socialist Party

Scottish Socialist Party

The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....

 (SSP) in advance of the SWP joining on mass, leaving the SWP in 2004 after many years of growing disagreements. He remains a member of the SSP and is a member of the editorial board of the Scottish Left Review

Scottish Left Review

The Scottish Left Review is a bi-monthly publication of the political-left in Scotland. Established in 2000 by several figures of the Scottish left including Henry McCubbin, Jimmy Reid, Roseanna Cunningham and John McAllion it collects articles on a number of issues written by various individuals...

, editor of its book arm, the Scottish Left Review Press, and the chair of the editorial committee of the journal of the Scottish Labour History Society, called Scottish Labour History. He is a member of the board of management of the Jimmy Reid Foundation. He is working on a biography of Tommy Sheridan

Tommy Sheridan

Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician. He has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-convenors of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity....

(due out late 2011), and a history of the SSP (due out late 2012).

Publications

As author

• The Emergence of a Rank and File Movement: the Comitati di Base in the Italian Worker's Movement, 1995, in Capital & Class
• The Meaning of Militancy? Postal workers and industrial relations, 2003, Ashgate, ISBN 0754619028, pp350.
• The Political Economy of Scotland: Red Scotland? Radical Scotland?, 2005, University of Wales Press, ISBN 0708319440, pp260.
• Sex Worker Union Organizing: An International Study, 2006, Palgrave, ISBN 1403949255, pp252.
• Labour Unionism in the Financial Services Sector: struggling for rights and representation, Ashgate, 2008, pp212, ISBN 0754642232.
• Tommy Sheridan: From Hero to Zero? A Political Biography, Welsh Academic Press, 2011, pp256, ISBN 978-1-86057-119-0.
• An Agency of our Own: sex workers of the world uniting and fighting, Zero, 2012.

As editor

• Union Organising: campaigning for trade union recognition. Edited collection, 2003, Routledge, ISBN 0415267811, pp272.
• Union Recognition: Organising and Bargaining Outcomes. Edited collection, 2006, Routledge, ISBN 0415343364, pp260.
• Is there a Scottish Road to Socialism? 2007, Scottish Left Review Press, Glasgow, ISBN 97809506224, pp137.
• Union Revitalisation in Advanced Economies: assessing the contribution of ‘union organising’, Palgrave, 2009, ISBN 9780230204393, pp240.
• The Future of Union Organising – building for tomorrow, Palgrave, 2009, ISBN 9780230222427, pp256.
• New Forms and Expressions of Conflict at Work, Palgrave, 2012

As co-editor

• The International Handbook of Labour Unions: Responses to Neo-liberalism, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2011.
• Global anti-unionism – nature, dynamics, trajectories and outcomes, Palgrave, 2012.