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92_HR0765
LRB9216500BHbh
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are proud to recognize milestone events in
4 the lives of the citizens of this State; and
5 WHEREAS, It has come to our attention that Jerry D. Jones
6 of Sesser will be retiring from his position as Vice
7 President of the United Mine Workers of America on May 23,
8 2002; and
9 WHEREAS, Mr. Jones assumed the office of United Mine
10 Workers of America Vice President on December 22, 1995, after
11 serving as the Union's Secretary-Treasurer since 1991; and
12 WHEREAS, Mr. Jones was born in Franklin County in 1939;
13 he was raised in a coal mining family and graduated from
14 Sesser High School before taking his first mining job as a
15 shuttle car operator in 1966 at the Old Ben No. 21 Mine near
16 Sesser; Mr. Jones has also worked as miner operator,
17 underground repairman, prep plant mechanic, and mine
18 examiner; and
19 WHEREAS, As a member of the UMWA Local Union 1124, Mr.
20 Jones was involved in every aspect of his union's work; in
21 1969, he was elected to serve on the local's safety
22 committee; Mr. Jones was first elected L.U. 1124 vice
23 president in the early 1970s and was later elected president
24 of the local; and
25 WHEREAS, In 1979, Mr. Jones was a UMWA health and safety
26 representative, where he was responsible for challenging
27 dangerous practices and policies throughout the coal
28 industry; in 1985, he was elected to the first of two terms
29 he would serve as president of UMWA District 12 in Illinois;
30 Mr. Jones, who has represented Illinois miners at every UMWA
31 convention since 1973, was the first member of the United
-2- LRB9216500BHbh
1 Mines Workers to be elected a vice president of the Illinois
2 State AFL-CIO; and
3 WHEREAS, Mr. Jones was a member of the bargaining team
4 that negotiated the 1993 National Bituminous Coal Wage
5 Agreement and served as the union's chief negotiator in
6 bargaining agreements with western coal operators in 1995;
7 and
8 WHEREAS, Also in 1995, he became a founding vice
9 president of the International Federation of Chemical,
10 Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which was
11 formed through the merger of the Miners International
12 Federation (MIF) and the International Federation of
13 Chemical, Energy and General Workers (ICEF); and
14 WHEREAS, Jerry Jones and his wife, Judy, have four
15 children, Jerry, Jana, Jon, and Jamie, and seven
16 grandchildren; therefore, be it
17 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
18 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
19 we congratulate Jerry D. Jones on his retirement as Vice
20 President of the United Mine Workers of America; and be it
21 further
22 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
23 presented to Jerry D. Jones of Sesser as an expression of our
24 esteem.