John Schantzen
Appointed Fifth District International Vice
President
March 2005 IBEW Journal
President
Hill has appointed John Schantzen International Vice
President for the Fifth District, effective March
1, 2005.
President
Hill (r) congratulates newly
appointed Vice President Schantzen.
Brother Schantzen
was initiated into Cocoa, Florida, Local 1908 at
Florida Power and Light in 1973. He immediately became
active in the local and was elected president and
business manager in 1976, serving until 1987.
In 1993,
Schantzen, a power plant maintenance foreman, was
elected as business manager of System Council U-4,
consisting of 11 locals representing workers at Florida
Power and Light. Working with two full-time assistants,
he was responsible for a full range of services to
the utilitys membership from organizing to grievances
and arbitration.
Appointed
International Representative in 1999, Schantzen was
assigned to servicing and organizing in the industrial
sector covering North Florida and South Georgia.
He has served as president of the Florida Electrical
Workers Association and as a member of the executive
board of the Florida AFL-CIO, also representing the
Brotherhood on a committee fighting for right-to-know
legislation covering workers who handle toxic substances.
"My
experience in Florida over the past several years
underscores my confidence in the importance of the
IBEWs new strategic organizing campaign in the state," he
says. "We must recover market share and organize
in every branch." Schantzen is excited to be
joining President Edwin Hill in Puerto Rico in March
for the installation of officers in the newest IBEW
local. He says: "Were looking forward to good
things in Puerto Rico."
A native
of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Schantzen served in
the U.S. Air Force at Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California from 1963 to 1967. He attended Brevard
Community College. He and his wife, Sandra, married
38 years, have two daughters and two grandchildren.
Mel Horton,
retiring Fifth District Vice President, says, "Im
confident John will do an outstanding job. Im leaving
the Fifth District in good hands."
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