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October 2003 IBEW Journal

Retired

Donald Lounds

First District International Vice President Donald Lounds has announced his retirement effective October 1, 2003.

Brother Lounds was appointed First District International Vice President by then-International President J. J. Barry effective October 1, 1997, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Ken Woods. He was elected to that post at the IBEW 36th International Convention in San Francisco in 2001.

A native of Oshawa, Ontario, Vice President Lounds attended public schools there as well as the Oshawa Collegiate and Vocational Institute.

He was initiated into the IBEW in 1960 and, at age 19, took on an immediate role in the affairs of his local. He became an executive board member of Local 874 in Oshawa in 1962 and served several terms before being elected business manager/ financial secretary in 1970.

He served in that capacity until April 1974 when he was appointed to the First District staff and assigned to Alberta and the Northwest Territories. The provincial government appointed him to several labor-related boards, including workers compensation and the Canadian Standards Association. In 1979, he was re-assigned to the First District Office and served as executive assistant to Vice President Woods from 1987 until he succeeded Woods in 1997.

At the time of his retirement Vice President Lounds was a member of the executive board of the Canadian Building and Construction Trades and a general vice president of the Canadian Labour Congress. He also served on the boards of the Construction Sector Council, the Canadian Labour and Business Centre and the Canadian Union Advantage Benefit Plan.

Brother Lounds is the father of three children, Jon, Sarah and Bert and the proud grandfather to Jon and Melanies children, Tyler, Nolan and Alyssa. He has also served as coach or manager for a variety of neighborhood hockey and baseball teams. The Brotherhood wishes Vice President Lounds all the best in retirement.

Appointed

Philip J. Flemming

The IBEW is pleased to announce the appointment of Philip J. Flemming to the post of First District Vice President, effective October 1, 2003. Brother Flemming replaces Donald Lounds, who retired.

Brother Flemming was initiated into IBEW Local 1432 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1967, where as an apprentice he helped the union establish a presence in the construction industry there. He worked as an inside wireman for eight years before being elected business manager/financial secretary of the local in 1975. He served in that post until his appointment as International Representative in 1981 serving Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1992, he was transferred to Ontario where he serviced IBEW members in the paper mills as well as those in the construction and manufacturing industries. His proudest achievement there was to organize a 600-member unit at a manufacturing plant in Toronto. In 1999, Brother Flemming was transferred to the First District office and a year later he became the vice presidents executive assistant.

Active in the Prince Edward Island labor community, he served as president of the P.E.I. Federation of Labour as a member of the P.E.I Labour Management Council and the Apprenticeship Advisory Board. Brother Flemming attended the West Royalty Trades College in Prince Edward Island and served in the Reserve Army for three years.

The IBEW congratulates and wishes Brother Flemming much success in his new position.

 

Retired

John E. Platt

First District International Representative John E. Platt announced his retirement effective October 1, 2003, completing a long and distinguished career of trade union service spanning more than 30 years.

Prior to his initiation into the IBEW in 1990 as an International Representative assigned to the former IBEW Tenth District, which was at that time the IBEW railroad district, Brother Platt was president of the Canadian Signal and Communications Union, which merged with the IBEW in October 1990.

Brother Platt is a 13-year member of IBEW Local 2002, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Brother Platt served for 10 years as president of CSCU, which represented signal and communications employees on all Canadian railways. He began his trade union career in 1962 as a part-time CSU officer and served as business manager for many years.

In 1998 Brother Platt transferred from the former IBEW Tenth District to the First District, where he continued in his assignment assisting Canadian railway local unions and IBEW Railroad System Council 11, which includes Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Limited, Toronto Terminals Railway and Ontario Northland Railway.

A native of England and educated at private schools there, Platt emigrated to Canada in 1957. Now residing in Ottawa, Ontario, he looks forward to his retirement.

The IBEW congratulates Brother Platt and wishes him all the best in retirement.

Transitions

International President Edwin D. Hill (right) administers the oath of office to newly appointed First District International Vice President Philip J. Flemming.