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 Local 39 Business Manager Jerry Kalmar was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, a city well known for its Unionism. Jerry graduated in 1975 from Annapolis High School. Both of Jerry's parents immigrated to this country to make a better life, his Dad from Hungary and his Mother from Italy. The senior Kalmar was a crane operator in a steel mill and Jerry's grandfather was a Stationary Engineer at the Detroit Metro Airport. The whole family worked Union, with Jerry's Uncles in the United Auto Workers and Teamsters.
Upon graduation from high school, Jerry went to work, as so many young men did in Detroit, in an auto plant. His first job was at Ford's Woodhaven Stamping Plant. From there he went to the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Michigan.
The lure of better opportunities and sunny weather brought him to Northern California in 1977. He found a job as a maintenance mechanic at the Tamalpais Retirement Home, which was his first step to becoming a Stationary Engineer.
In 1981, Jerry went to work at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco as a Utility Engineer and joined Local 39. Jerry immediately enrolled at the Local 39 Training Center where he took every class he could.
In 1983 Jerry was hired by the Fairmont Hotel as an Engineer. While there, he was promoted to Assistant Chief Engineer. During those years, Jerry served Local 39 as the Guard, an Auditor, as a District 1 Executive Board Member and Treasurer, before becoming Union President in 1992.
Kalmar came to work for Local 39 full-time in 1995 as a Business Representative and was assigned to the Sacramento Office. Covering both public and private sector Members, his service area was from Sacramento to Chowchilla, thus helping him attain a broad knowledge of Local 39 and its Members. Jerry was then given the responsibility of reorganizing District 7 - San Jose in 1997.
In January 1999, Jerry became Director of Public Employees, overseeing Local 39's 11,000 public sector Members. In August 1999, he took over as Assistant Business Manager. With Art Viat's retirement in March 2000, the Line Officers and Executive Board named Jerry Business Manager.
Jerry was elected as Business Manager in 2001. Jerry's wife Tanya is a former Local 39 Member who worked for the Redwood City District Attorney's Office. Jerry's son Chris graduated from Rocklin H.S. in 2002 and is a Local 39 member currently working at Levis Plaza. |
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