Federal members Stephen Jones and Sharon Bird were among the 130 guests at the function honouring the man who spearheaded some of the biggest union battles in recent memory as secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

The book gives insight into the private man, who overcame discomfort with public life to campaign for staff compensation in the wake of the Ansett Australia collapse and later, for James Hardie asbestos victims.

It opens with a story about an awkward, eight-year-old Combet called on by his principal to speak in honour of Premier Robert Askin, who was visiting his Eastern Creek school in 1966.

"It's an engaging, sometimes moving and very passionate walk through the big events of his life, particularly a lot of the fights he has been involved in, the disputes when he was with the ACTU, then as a minister for the Rudd and Gillard governments," Mr Jones said.

"The key message is in the title of the book; the things that matter, the things that we value, you've got to fight for."