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Retired District 7 Vice President Jim Gordon Dies at 92
Delmar K. “Jim” Gordon, retired vice president of CWA District 7, died May 7 of pneumonia, at a nursing home near his family in Omaha. He was 92.
In June 1957, Gordon had the distinction of being elected District 7 director without having worked as a member of the CWA staff. He served six terms, during which the title was changed to district vice president, and retired from that position in July 1974.
CWA President Emeritus Glenn Watts remembers Gordon as “a very popular vice president.”
“I personally worked very closely with Jim on a number of negotiating sessions, where we used the Northwestern Bell contract as a pattern setter for AT&T,” Watts said.
Retired CWA Secretary-Treasurer Louis Knecht recalled that Gordon traveled extensively as district director. “He spent a lot of effort to get out to the locals. His basic drive was to improve benefits for our members. He fought hard to get the company to pay for health insurance — they didn’t used to do that.”
Gordon first bargained 50 percent company paid health benefits, then later 100 percent, Knecht said.
Gordon was born in Stratton, Neb. Ed Follis, who succeeded him as District 7 VP, said Gordon graduated high school in Logan, Iowa, near Omaha, then served in the South Pacific with the Seabees during World War II. When he came out of the Navy, Gordon went to work on the line crew for Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., later becoming a local testboardman. He became president of CWA Local 7112 in Clinton, Iowa, which in 1972 merged into Local 7117 in Davenport.
Follis, who in 1959 became Gordon’s assistant director, said that because Northwestern Bell’s contract expired early in the bargaining cycle, Gordon’s successes in bargaining also influenced CWA’s bargaining with the other Bell companies.
Said current District 7 Vice President John Thompson, “Jim and his wife Beverly were both consummate unionists and great for the movement.”
Gordon’s wife died March 28 due to complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He is survived by his three daughters and their spouses: Cathy and husband Ronald Hinckley of Great Falls, Va.; Patti and her husband Wesley McBride of Omaha, Neb., and Elizabeth Deardorff of Albuquerque, N.M.
In June 1957, Gordon had the distinction of being elected District 7 director without having worked as a member of the CWA staff. He served six terms, during which the title was changed to district vice president, and retired from that position in July 1974.
CWA President Emeritus Glenn Watts remembers Gordon as “a very popular vice president.”
“I personally worked very closely with Jim on a number of negotiating sessions, where we used the Northwestern Bell contract as a pattern setter for AT&T,” Watts said.
Retired CWA Secretary-Treasurer Louis Knecht recalled that Gordon traveled extensively as district director. “He spent a lot of effort to get out to the locals. His basic drive was to improve benefits for our members. He fought hard to get the company to pay for health insurance — they didn’t used to do that.”
Gordon first bargained 50 percent company paid health benefits, then later 100 percent, Knecht said.
Gordon was born in Stratton, Neb. Ed Follis, who succeeded him as District 7 VP, said Gordon graduated high school in Logan, Iowa, near Omaha, then served in the South Pacific with the Seabees during World War II. When he came out of the Navy, Gordon went to work on the line crew for Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., later becoming a local testboardman. He became president of CWA Local 7112 in Clinton, Iowa, which in 1972 merged into Local 7117 in Davenport.
Follis, who in 1959 became Gordon’s assistant director, said that because Northwestern Bell’s contract expired early in the bargaining cycle, Gordon’s successes in bargaining also influenced CWA’s bargaining with the other Bell companies.
Said current District 7 Vice President John Thompson, “Jim and his wife Beverly were both consummate unionists and great for the movement.”
Gordon’s wife died March 28 due to complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He is survived by his three daughters and their spouses: Cathy and husband Ronald Hinckley of Great Falls, Va.; Patti and her husband Wesley McBride of Omaha, Neb., and Elizabeth Deardorff of Albuquerque, N.M.