[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 164 (Thursday, October 12, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING THE MEMORY OF JIM McLOUGHLIN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 12, 2017

  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Jim 
McLoughlin, an outspoken advocate for working families for over forty 
years. The San Antonio Redevelopment Plan's twelve story tower located 
in the heart of downtown San Jose, constructed in 1975 and 1976 thanks 
in large part to his efforts, will be renamed in Jim's honor.
   Jim first joined Local 428 of the United Food and Commercial Workers 
Union (then the Retail Clerks International Association) in 1937 as a 
clerk at Piggly Wiggly. A quick learner and a natural leader, he was 
elected to lead Local 428 that same year. His leadership continued for 
the next forty-three years, during which time Jim expressed solidarity 
for his brethren in labor throughout the world by serving as a trade 
union delegate to labor organizations in China, Argentina, Israel, 
Iceland and Sweden.
   Jim dedicated his life to organizing and civic engagement. He was a 
member of the Committee on Political Education and the AFL-CIO for over 
forty years. He participated on various state task forces, including 
Governor Pat Brown's Committee on Automation and Employment in 1958, 
the Industrial Commission-Mercantile Wage Board in 1972 and the 
California Attorney General's Volunteer Advisory Council in 1973. 
Serving as Vice President among the 1.5 million members in the 
California Labor Federation from 1972 to 1980, Jim made a substantial 
impact for a generation of working families in California.
   Committed to social justice, Jim became a lifetime member of the 
NAACP in 1955 and was a delegate to the Labor Assembly for Peace in 
Vietnam in 1967. He served on the Santa Clara County Democratic Central 
Committee for over twenty years and acted as a McGovern delegate on 
behalf of Northern California Labor at the Democratic National 
Convention in 1972.
   Jim advocated for ``guaranteed employment rights, wages, and 
benefits which match the cost of living to enable workers to be a force 
and active contributors in the communities.'' His worldview that the 
treatment of workers is critical to the wellbeing of the community 
remains as relevant now as it was in Jim's time. I am proud to have 
been Jim's friend, and thankful for the many ways in which Jim 
advocated for workers in California and throughout the world.

                          ____________________