IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. has appointed longtime IAM officer and staff member Robert D. Walls to serve as the IAM’s Woodworkers Director. The appointment is effective January 1, 2023.
Walls has served on the Woodworkers’ Department’s Grand Lodge staff since 2015 as a Special Representative and then as a Grand Lodge Representative.
“Brother Walls has a long history on the shop floor, at the negotiating table, and in halls of power around the world advocating for IAM wood, pulp, and paper members,” said Martinez. “We look forward to continuing to strengthen our power and grow our footprint in this critical sector.”
Walls, a member since the Woodworkers affiliated with the IAM in 1994, served as a shop steward and business representative for IAM Local W33 in his hometown of International Falls, MN. He was appointed District W3 Business Representative in February 2000 and became the district’s Assistant Directing Business Representative in 2009.
Walls serves on the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Resource Committee (SFI), the Forest Products Industry National Labor Management Committee, the Machinists Wood, Pulp & Paper Council, and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC.) In October 2022, at the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) Congress, Walls was elected Vice President of BWI’s North America Region.
Walls takes over for Mike Rose, who retired as Woodworkers Department Chief of Staff on January 1.