The road haulage industry has expanded at the tempestuous rate, and here is recorded an equally tempestuous history of a trade union built by the men who have driven the vehicles. Angela Tuckett, an active trade unionist, also has practical knowledge of the trade union movement in the capacity of qualified solicitor and journalist.

She explains the development of the men’s outlook, from the relations which obtained between master and servant in the intolerable conditions of the horse drawn era to the present-day crisis in collective bargaining.

With the change from horse to mechanical traction came the fight for a measure of public control, the Royal Commission on Transport 1928-30 and the road traffic legislation which followed.

The author describes the struggle for traffic between private railway companies and private road hauliers, nationalization and denationalization of road transport, and how the union reached the conclusion that the only solution to traffic chaos is an integrated transport system under public ownership. In tracing how and why the Scottish union arose, its special problems and the reason for keeping its Scottish bases, the author has drawn upon the union’s official records and other original sources.

The result shows a modern progressive union, principled in its relations with other organizations, responsive to change and equipped to meet new problems for which many larger unions still have to find the solution.

This is an interesting book for students of trade union history, Scottish labour history and British history.