Heintzman tapped as president of ATU international union

Ron Heintzman, a former president of Portland-based Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 757, has been appointed international president by the ATU’s General Executive Board following the retirement of Warren S. George, effective July 1.

Heintzman, 57, becomes the eighth international president in the ATU’s 117-year history. He will serve the remainder of George’s term, which expires in September.

Heintzman has served as international executive vice president for the past year, and prior to that served seven years as an international vice president. As executive vice president he was responsible for directing the activities of 18 international vice presidents and four international representatives in Canada and the United States.

Additionally, Heintzman was responsible for overseeing the organizing and strategic planning departments. During the past year, more than 1,000 newly organized members joined ATU.

As an international vice president, Heintzman assisted locals in organizing and negotiating collective bargaining agreements in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Nevada and Texas.

Heintzman served five terms as president of Portland-based Local 757. First elected in 1988, he was president of the local when he was appointed as international vice president in 2002. During his tenure at Local 757, the union more than doubled in size, growing to over 5,000 members with 23 separate collective bargaining agreements in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Heintzman’s early background was in criminal justice. He spent most of his childhood in North Dakota, but finished high school in Seattle. He graduated from Washington State University in Pullman in 1975 with a bachelors’ degree in political science on an Army ROTC scholarship, and then served two years active duty as a second lieutenant in the Military Police in Fort Hood, Texas. That was followed by 15 years in the reserves. He moved to Oregon in 1977 to take a job as an agent for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, then attended the police academy in Monmouth, and earned a master’s degree in criminal justice at the University of Portland. He joined TriMet as a transit police officer in 1982, and ran for union president in 1988 on a platform of drivers’ safety.

During his tenure at Local 757, Heintzman helped introduce and pass laws in Oregon making it a felony to assault bus operators, and requiring the installation and use of the nation’s first illuminated and flashing ‘yield to bus” signage on the back of buses.

Local 757 also beat back several concerted efforts in the Legislature to privatize transit services modeled after the Colorado public transportation contracting law.

Heintzman resides in Maryland with his wife, Linda, and two daughters.

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