Gregor Gall

Following the sudden and unexpected death of RMT general secretary, Bob Crow, in March 2014, Gall has written a political biography of him, examining what lessons can be learnt for the union movement from his style of leadership in espousing militant, oppositional politics. The biography was published by Manchester University Press in March 2017 on the third anniversary of his death. His next major projects are an analysis of the politics and political impact of Joe Strummer, and a biography of Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services' (PCS) union, where Mark has agreed to co-operate in interviews for the biography.

In late 2013, he published his contribution to the case for independence in Scotland entitled Scotland the brave? Independence and radical social change. The key arguments concerned not relying on the SNP and establishing a connection between the material grievances of ordinary citizens and the possibilities of higher standards of living and better life chances under independence as a result of rolling back the tentacles of neo-liberalism.

He is author and editor of numerous academic books, and is also a politically engaged academic, whereby he has regularly contributed to the Morning Star, The Guardian's "Comment is free" website, the Frontline magazine, The Conversation, The Scotsman, The Huffington Post and a number of other media like the journal of the Aslef train drivers' Locomotive union. He also provides research and consultancy to a number of unions, particularly the Fire Brigades Union, and is a frequent commentator in the media on matters of unions and industrial conflict. He was also a correspondent for Planetlabor from 2009 to 2016.

Originally a member of Labour Students and the Labour Party from 1985, he ended his membership of these in 1988 over the issue of the poll tax, then joining the Socialist Workers' Party (SWP) in 1990. He joined the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in advance of the SWP joining en masse, leaving the SWP in 2004 after many years of growing disagreements. He has been a member of the editorial board of the Scottish Left Review since 2003, is editor of its book arm, the Scottish Left Review Press, and has been the editor of the journal of the Scottish Labour History Society, called Scottish Labour History since 2008 (then since 2015 as joint editor with Jim Philips of the University of Glasgow). Following the resignation of Robin McAlpine as Director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation and Editor of the Scottish Left Review to concentrate on the Commonweal, Gall has stepped in as Director and Editor. Gall has been a member of the board of management of the Jimmy Reid Foundation since its inception. He has written a lengthy and detailed biography of Tommy Sheridan (Welsh Academic Press, 2012), and is working on a history of the SSP.

Gregor Gall (born 1967) is a British left-wing academic and writer. He was professor of industrial relations at the University of Bradford and before then professors of industrial relations at the University of Stirling and the University of Hertfordshire. He is now an affiliate research associate at the University of Glasgow and a visiting professor at the University of Leeds. He researches and writes primarily about trade unions, and has a particular interest in the labour movement politics of Scotland – for example, he is working on a research project examining union leadership and the disproportionate contribution of Scots to the British-wide union movement at senior levels (like general secretaries).