[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 23, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H7226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CONGRATULATIONS TO GARY JOHN ALEKNAVICH ON HIS RETIREMENT

  (Mr. SOTO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. SOTO. Madam Speaker, tonight, I would like to honor Gary John 
Aleknavich and congratulate him on his upcoming retirement.
  Gary John Aleknavich is a U.S. Navy veteran, labor leader, 
maintenance foreman, journeyman mechanic, and certified welder by 
trade. He has received a certificate of achievement for completing 
courses at the Florida International University Center for Labor 
Research and Studies.
  After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1976 to 1979, Gary was hired by 
Florida Power and Light, and then went on to become an apprenticeship 
mechanic at the Florida Port Everglades Power Plant. In 1984, he became 
a journeyman mechanic at the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant, and later 
became a mechanical certified welder and a nuclear maintenance foreman.
  He has held various positions within his local union of the 
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, including treasurer, 
executive board member, job steward, System Council U-4 delegate, and 
national convention committee delegate, and served as the Florida 
Electrical Worker Association's vice president and executive board 
member.
  Gary has been a member of IBEW since 1980 and even started the 
process to establish and train IBEW officers and members in the IBEW 
Code of Excellence training program. He soon became System Council U-4, 
assistant business manager of IBEW System Council U-4, and was later 
elected to serve as business manager in 2005, where he ran unopposed 
for four additional 3-year terms and will retire next month.
  There is no question that Gary John Aleknavich has been a leader in 
his community and a public servant, and one of labor's strongest 
members.
  Madam Speaker, for that, we thank him.

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