Skilled at all Trades: The History of the Farmworkers Union 1947–1984 (1993) — Bob Wynn

Transport and General Workers Union | ISBN: 1873639023 | Condition: Very Good | Sold by Crappy Old Books

Pitchforks, ploughshares, and picket lines—welcome to the story of the people who kept Britain fed while also learning the fine art of organised resistance. In Skilled at all Trades, union historian Bob Wynn digs into the roots and rows of the Farmworkers’ Union between 1947 and 1984, showing how the men and women of the fields weren’t just sowing wheat and mucking out cows—they were cultivating solidarity, rights, and a decent wage packet.

This is not a quaint pastoral tale with cows lowing in the background; it’s the chronicle of rural workers discovering their collective muscle in an era when tractors were getting bigger, food systems were industrialising, and unions were finding their voices in surprising places. Expect minutes from meetings, accounts of strikes, and portraits of people who could handle a scythe in one hand and a union rulebook in the other.

Why this copy?

• Condition: Very Good. Almost as sturdy as a well-oiled tractor: the spine holds, the pages are clean, and the margins haven’t been trampled by muddy boots.

• Published by the TGWU. This isn’t some distant academic account—it’s the union telling its own story, equal parts history book and love letter to the rank and file.

• From Crappy Old Books. We don’t just deal in medieval bishops and obscure thrillers. Occasionally, we serve up a slab of industrial heritage that still smells faintly of overalls and thermos flasks.

Specs at a glance

• Author: Bob Wynn

• Title: Skilled at all Trades: The History of the Farmworkers Union 1947–1984

• Publisher: Transport and General Workers Union, 1993

• ISBN: 1873639023

• Condition: Very Good

This is the sort of book that makes you want to roll up your sleeves, grab a union banner, and hum a folk tune about solidarity while the combine harvester rumbles in the background. It’s earnest, detailed, sometimes unexpectedly funny (union minutes often are), and always grounded in the belief that rural labour deserves respect.

Warning: prolonged reading may cause spontaneous humming of “Solidarity Forever,” a sudden desire to negotiate over tea breaks, and the realisation that without farmworkers, nobody eats.

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