The Black Squad

About the Book

The 1970Õs and the United Kingdom was spiralling into the abyss of economic ruin. The tradesÕ unions power was used to wring high wage increases from employers who acceded to the demands or faced withdrawal of labour to threaten their business. Agreeing to the demands also threatened their business and many went bust. Few opposed the unions. Different Governments failed the electorate by not controlling wages and prices effectively and the unions took advantage. The unions found ways to break voluntary and statute measures aimed at controlling the economy.

Gregg Fellows narrates the story of how young John Queen and the other fun loving men of the Black Squad, a name given to a factory maintenance group, are pressed into joining the unions. They have no idea of union activity but soon find out about its power and how to use it. They quickly learn about the excitement and pitfalls of facing the managers and executives of industry.

John becomes the shop steward and is so successful that management try to discredit and discipline him, but find him not as easy a target as they thought. The drama of the negotiating table is offset by the mischief and shop floor humour of the lads, who in turn think John is unbeatable as their leader, and can get them anything they demand.

The involvement with management and unions develops John from seeing things as clear-cut, to realising that there are different ways of looking at any situation, but first and foremost he has a loyalty to the union members, after his family, and they expect him to deliver.

This is a nostalgic trip through the 70Õs. The good old days? Or the bad old days? Drama and outrageous humour during tense and testing times when redundancy threatened at any time with more people chasing less jobs, and the prospect of losing high wages to the dole money.

Reading this novel may influence the way you vote at the next General Election. It may make you decide not to vote at all!

About the Author

Douglas Morrison had worked in engineering, the Merchant Navy and production situations, and was a shop steward during the 1970's where he got the inspiration for this book.