WHILE the trade union movement is full of larger-than-life figures, Hank Roberts is certainly one of a kind.

How many other trade union leaders could claim to have stolen a firearm, drunk bleach, hospitalised several people, lived in a tent for six months to halt privatisation of a school, appeared before a High Court judge at the Old Bailey and then been elected president of their union, subsequently securing one of the most significant trade union amalgamations in recent history?

[[{"fid":"17428","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]So, when Roberts turned 70 several weeks ago and released his autobiography, it was bound to be an interesting read. Something of a roller-coaster of a ride, it details his life from his birth in Bermuda and growing up in Portsmouth and Camden to his career as a teacher and trade unionist.

Roberts says his book is to a large degree autobiographical but also an attempt “to impart some useful knowledge.” Large sections of it focus on his campaigning on asbestos and his long struggle against academisation — read privatisation — of our schools.

The campaign for professional unity within education and the wider trade union movement also occupies a significant space as does the amalgamation of unions ATL and NUT — he was on  the national executive of both —  into the National Education Union.

It is a testament to his single-minded drive to increase the power of the class through building unity.

Each of the struggles he has engaged in is deconstructed and analysed in a way which readers looking for strategic or tactical inspiration will find useful, even down to such practical advice as to always plan occupations to significantly increase the risk of personal injury and therefore the difficulty of eviction!

There are sections readers will find uncomfortable — as Roberts says: “if you’re not offended by at least part of the book, there’s something wrong with you” — yet for me, and I suspect other readers too, it is the underlying attitude towards women throughout the book which is a reminder of quite how far the trade union movement still needs to go.

But, taken in the round, there is much to recommend. In the words of a fellow NEU national executive member: “It genuinely made me laugh out loud, cry real tears, gasp in shock and squirm. It’s a top read.”

Available from online retailers, £10.