His time as secretary saw a period of expansion and consolidation and in 1910 he became a district check-inspector on a programme to improve conditions in Queensland mines.

Gledson represented Queensland at the 1915 meeting in Sydney which brought the Australian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation into being.

[1] He held several offices while Labor was in power: In 1922, defections from the Labor Party and the refusal of the opposition to grant a pair to any absent Government members left it in a precarious position and forced the Queensland Premier, Ted Theodore, to have Gledson brought in to parliament on a stretcher, due to his having severe influenza.

Charges were laid against the ringleaders and three of the men arrested (E. C. Englart, Max Julius and M. Healy) refused to pay the fines they were given and elected to serve the three-month jail sentences in default.

The covering letter said that the payment was for "Maxy, Teddy and Mick" and implored Gledson to "let these men go back to their wives and families.