RETIRED — After holding a number of positions throughout his nearly half-century career, Seventh District International Representative David Gonzales retired, effective June 1.
“I’ve been an IBEW member for 47 years. I figured it was time to go and let someone else take the reins,” he said.
Brother Gonzales was initiated into Beaumont, Texas, Local 479 in 1980. The inside wireman was active in the local, serving on numerous committees, including the JATC and golf committees, and as a trustee on the pension, annuity, and health and welfare committees. Outside the local, he served on the executive board of the Sabine Area Central Labor Council and as secretary-treasurer of the Texas State Association of Electrical Workers.
In 1989, he was elected to Local 479’s executive board, and in 2005 he was elected business manager, a position he held until 2012, when he was appointed international representative in the Seventh District, servicing inside locals in south and southeast Texas.
“As a representative, I enjoyed working with business managers and helping them reach their potential and to not let any obstacles get in their way,” the Port Arthur native said.
Seventh District State Organizing Coordinator Chris Reeves has known Gonzales since he was a teenager. “Coming from a Southern household, he’ll always be ‘Mr. David’ to me,” he said.
As business manager, Gonzales led by being calm and firm, Reeves recalled. “He controlled his emotions exceptionally well. It was rare for him to raise his voice, but when he did, it carried weight,” Reeves said. “He was deliberate and thoughtful. Every word he spoke added value to the conversation.”
When now-retired Seventh District International Vice President Jon Gardner hired Gonzales as an international representative, it was for his knowledge as well as his demeanor.
“I hired David because I needed a representative who understood the challenges in the petrochemical industry and recognized the need for changes in the local unions on the Gulf Coast to meet future challenges,” Gardner said. “David, with his pleasant and cooperative personality, was the person who I believed could get the locals to adopt the changes needed to be more successful in the future.”
“Our construction unions are now experiencing substantial gains in membership. David was and is an important part of that success.”
– Retired Seventh District International Vice President Jon Gardner
Gonzales’ experience extends to training he did on the Code of Excellence and the Foreman Development Series, the latter of which was created in the Seventh District and is now part of the IBEW’s national training curriculum.
Ultimately, Gardner said, every local union in the Seventh District adopted the Code of Excellence and increased their focus on organizing.
“Our construction unions are now experiencing substantial gains in membership,” Gardner said. “David was and is an important part of that success.”
Gonzales’ organizing talents also made an impact on Reeves. As a state organizing coordinator in southern Texas, he covers areas that overlap with the locals Gonzales serviced.
“He’s been a valuable source of guidance and perspective,” Reeves said. “He understands my passion for organizing and helped shape my approach by encouraging a broader, more international mindset, one that respects and supports the autonomy of the locals.”
Gonzales said he’ll always think fondly of the people he worked with.
“I’ll miss throwing ideas back and forth and coming up with the best strategy for our members,” he said. “And all the personal relationships I had with the business managers.”
Gonzales said he’s glad to have helped workers in the electrical industry get the wages, benefits and respect they deserve.
“Everybody in the electrical industry deserves to be an IBEW member so they’ll be able to take care of themselves and their family and retire with dignity, like I did,” he said.
Gardner noted that, in addition to all he’s done for the IBEW, Gonzales is the quintessential family man.
“Any conversation with David will always include details about what his family is doing, especially his grandchildren,” Gardner said.
Spending time with those grandchildren is high on the list of things Gonzales intends do in retirement, along with playing golf and helping his wife with her garden.
On behalf of the officers, members and staff, we wish Brother Gonzales all the best in his well-deserved retirement.
