The 34th annual East Central Iowa and Northwestern Illinois AFL-CIO Hall of Fame Banquet will be held Saturday at the Isle Casino Hotel in Bettendorf, with two United Auto Workers members being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
A social hour will be held from 5:30-6:30 p.m. The Vietnam Veterans Honor Guard 669, Rock Island Chapter, will begin the banquet at 6:30 p.m.
The event is being hosted by the Quad City Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.
James A. Reynolds, also known as “Big Jim,” of UAW Local 1304 will be inducted into the Hall of Fame along with the posthumous induction of Brian Ripple of UAW Local 281.
Reynolds graduated from Monmouth High School in 1960 and in March 1963 went to work for International Harvester’s East Moline plant.
After three years he was appointed as one of the union members on the Joint Plant Safety Committee that investigated accidents and safety issues. He was later elevated to Safety Chairman for two years and was elected Union Steward for four years. He was a Grievance Committeeman for Zone 2 for five years and was responsible for grievances and problem-solving for 800 people in the assembly, paint and packaging departments
In 1978, he was elected President and Chairman of the Bargaining Committee, a position he held until his retirement on April 1, 1993. During those 15 years, in addition to his duties as President and Chairman of Local 1304, he was an elected delegate to every UAW Convention from 1978 to 1994. He was one of the seven members on the Resolutions Committee to the 26th UAW Constitutional Convention and an active participant in the UAW Quad Cities area CAP, or Community Action Program Council where he served many years as Vice Chairman.
Outside of work, Reynolds served as Western Township Supervisor for three years and was a member of the Henry County Tax Board of Review for one year. He was a Loaned Executive for the United Way on their fundraising drive for 10 years and held numerous positions with the U.S. Illinois and Monmouth Jaycees. He served as chairman of the Henry County Democrats for 20 years and was on the Illinois Democratic County Chairmans Associations Executive Board for 20 years.
Reynolds and his wife, Carol, raised five children, have eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. They moved to The Villages, Florida, in 2004 and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary before his wife passed away. Reynolds still resides in The Villages.
Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts
Ripple graduated from Moline High School in 2004. He started his career at John Deere Davenport Works as a welder on June 6, 2005.
A fourth-generation UAW member, Ripple was serving his third term as Vice President of UAW Local 281 at the time of his passing on Nov. 10, 2024.
Ripple began serving as an alternate steward in 2008 and after three years was elected as fulltime steward in 2011. He also was elected to the position of Community Action Program delegate. He spent the rest of his career serving the union through the CAP, which is the worksite political arm of the local union.
In 2017 he became Chair of Southeast Iowa CAP, and served on the Iowa State Board for CAP.
Ripple also volunteered many hours supporting political candidates who supported the working class. He also was an active member of the Community Service Committee, Communication Committee, Education Committee and Bylaws Committee. Ripple also spent many hours assembling bicycles that his local had donated to the Salvation Army Angel Tree.
This year’s John White Community Service Award will go to Local Union 25 for that membership’s fundraising efforts for veterans and their families as well as volunteering at numerous nonprofits. They also have donated materials and labor to aid elderly community members in need, as well as collecting toys for the annual Toys For Tots, and donating blood during blood drives.
The keynote speaker for this year’s banquet is David Knipp, known on social media as “The Proud Union Guy.”
Love
0
Funny
0
Wow
0
Sad
0
Angry
0
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Thomas Geyer
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today