Jesse L. Bielefeld
NATIONAL DIRECTOR

Jesse began his career on April 7, 1967 with Otis Elevator Company. His first job was in construction at the Tower of Americas in San Antonio, Local 81 jurisdiction. He worked in all departments in the trade becoming a Mechanic in 1972. Only a month prior to his Mechanic's exam Jesse took a job as a Local Representative for Otis Elevator Company in San Angelo, Texas. During the summer of 1975 Jesse left San Angelo to work for Otis Elevator Company in Corpus Christi as a repair Mechanic. He returned to San Antonio in 1976 to work for Esco on a maintenance route.

He served in several elected local union offices between 1971 and 1979 including Executive Board Chairman, Recording Secretary, President and Correspondent to the Journal. In 1979 he was elected Business Representative of Local 81. He served in that position for over 17 years until he resigned to attend to urgent family needs. During his tenure as Business Representative he was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the San Antonio Building Trades and President of the San Antonio AFL-CIO where he became Chairman of four Housing Projects. He was a trustee on the VIA Transit Authorities Board for 4 years which covered the pension and welfare plans of the Transit Workers local in San Antonio. Jesse is a past Elevator Advisory Board Member from the state of Texas.

In 1998 IUEC General President Edward C. Sullivan requested Jesse to serve as Interim Office Director for the IUEC in Columbia Md. Jesse was appointed as the Assistant National Coordinator for the EIWPF later that same year. The Trustees of the EIWPF appointed Jesse to serve as the National Director of the Elevator Work Preservation Fund in June of 2001.

Beyond Jesse's duties as Business Representative he has been active within the AFL-CIO on a local, state and national level. He has also been active in local schools, government, politics and ANSI code. Jesse is an OSHA approved instructor for the OSHA 10-Hour Safety Course. Jesse's latest accomplishment is to have obtained his OSHA 500 Master Instructor status.

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