International President
Newton B. Jones has served as the Boilermakers International president since July 24, 2003, when the International Executive Council elected him to complete the unexpired term of International President Charles W. Jones, who resigned after 20 years in office. In July 2006, delegates to the Boilermakers 31st Consolidated Convention in Las Vegas unanimously re-elected Jones to a five-year term.
Jones has served the Boilermakers union in various capacities over the past 33 years ― as a construction boilermaker; organizer; director of organizing and communications; managing editor of the Boilermaker Reporter and Boilermaker Organizer newspapers; and as the International vice president of the Boilermakers' southeast area.
Jones began his career as a field construction boilermaker in 1971, working in the jurisdiction of Local 454, Chattanooga, Tenn., on a Georgia Power project. In 1972, he joined Local 203 in St. John's, Newfoundland, and worked on a refinery job. He later transferred his membership to Local 199 in Jacksonville, Florida, and worked mainly as a high rigger and as a certified pressure welder.
In 1981, Jones joined the International staff as an organizer; he was appointed director of organizing and communications in 1986. He was the principal architect of the Boilermakers' Fight Back construction organizing strategy, an innovative and effective approach to organizing in the construction industry. As managing editor of the Boilermaker Reporter, he computerized the Boilermakers publications department, and oversaw the modernization of all computer operations at Boilermaker headquarters. As International vice president for the southeast area (1994-2003), Jones negotiated one of the largest increases to the wage and benefits package the area has enjoyed.
While working as a Boilermaker, Jones also attended the University of South Florida and Florida State University. He graduated from the Harvard Trade Union Program in 1985.
