He joined the Royal Air Force in 1956 as an electrical technician, and continued in the same profession after re-entering civilian life.
This position came up for re-election in June 2002 and he was defeated by the then relatively unknown Derek Simpson, who went on to become Amicus General Secretary.
He was a vice-president of the Trade Union Committee for European and Transatlantic Understanding (TUCETU), an organisation with close links to NATO.
[1] Six union officials had admitted to attempting to rig the election nominating process, but Jackson denied any involvement.
[3] Jackson became chairman of Nirex, a company which formerly managed disposal of nuclear waste, in December 2001, while he was still a JGS of Amicus.