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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives wish to congratulate Lonnie Stephenson on | ||||||
| 4 | being appointed International President of the International | ||||||
| 5 | Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Lonnie Stephenson was born and raised in Rock | ||||||
| 7 | Island; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, Lonnie Stephenson began his apprenticeship as an | ||||||
| 9 | inside wireman in 1975 and was initiated into IBEW
Local Union | ||||||
| 10 | 145 in 1976; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, Lonnie Stephenson was very active in his local | ||||||
| 12 | union early in his career, serving on several
committees and | ||||||
| 13 | being elected Vice-President in 1984 and President from 1987 to | ||||||
| 14 | 1992; as President, he implemented many new initiatives within | ||||||
| 15 | his local union, including
forming an active community service | ||||||
| 16 | committee, holding an annual blood drive, and
getting the local | ||||||
| 17 | union's building recognized as a Red Cross Disaster Center, | ||||||
| 18 | which was
utilized as such during flooding of the Quad-City | ||||||
| 19 | area in 1997; he was appointed
Assistant Business Agent in 1991 | ||||||
| 20 | and was elected Business Manager in 1996; as
Business Manager, | ||||||
| 21 | he was very aggressive in organizing and his membership grew
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| 22 | from 700 members to over 1,100 during his tenure as Business | ||||||
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| 1 | Manager; one
of his proudest moments as Business Manager was | ||||||
| 2 | when a nonunion electrician
stopped in his office to ask how he | ||||||
| 3 | could join the IBEW because it was too strong a union
area and | ||||||
| 4 | he had to travel for his employer to find work; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, IBEW International President Edwin Hill | ||||||
| 6 | recognized Lonnie Stephenson's dedication to the IBEW
and | ||||||
| 7 | appointed him as an International Representative assigned to | ||||||
| 8 | the Sixth District
on January 1, 2002; he was soon thereafter | ||||||
| 9 | appointed the Organizing Coordinator for the
Sixth District and | ||||||
| 10 | then Administrative Assistant to then IBEW Sixth District IVP | ||||||
| 11 | Joseph
(Jeff) Lohman; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, On September 1st, 2010, Lonnie Stephenson was | ||||||
| 13 | appointed by President Hill as International Vice-President of | ||||||
| 14 | the Sixth District; he was then elected to a 5-year term by the | ||||||
| 15 | delegates at
the IBEW's 38th International Convention held in | ||||||
| 16 | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
in 2011; and | ||||||
| 17 | WHEREAS, On May 27, 2015, Lonnie Stephenson was appointed | ||||||
| 18 | International President of the IBEW effective
June 1, 2015; | ||||||
| 19 | therefore, be it
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| 20 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 21 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 22 | congratulate Lonnie Stephenson on being appointed | ||||||
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| 1 | International President of the International Brotherhood of | ||||||
| 2 | Electrical Workers; and be it further
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| 3 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 4 | presented to the Lonnie Stephenson as an expression of our | ||||||
| 5 | esteem and respect.
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