Winpisinger Center Director and Educator, Chris Wagoner.
IAM Mourns Loss of Retired Winpisinger Center Director Chris Wagoner
Machinists District 141
15 November 2022
The IAM is mourning the passing of Chris Wagoner, who recently retired as Director of the IAM’s William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center. Wagoner, 60, with his family by his side, passed away after a brief illness on Sunday, November 20, 2022.
Over his 33-year IAM career, Wagoner dedicated his life to training and educating union activists at the Winpisinger Center, a campus in Hollywood, MD that many call the IAM’s “crown jewel.”
After hiring on as an education representative at the Winpisinger Center in 1989, Wagoner became the center’s assistant director in 2005. He served as director since 2007. Wagoner retired from the IAM in July 2022.
“The entire IAM is simply heartbroken at the loss of such an iconic, caring and influential figure in our union,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Chris has been a great friend and confidant to myself and so many others through more than three decades of challenges and triumphs in the IAM. Our memories of Chris’s unyielding love for our union and our membership will forever live on for so many whom he touched throughout the years. We send our deepest condolences to his wife Jill, daughter Mollie, daughter-in-law Qifei Zeng, and everyone who loved and cherished what Chris brought to our lives on and off the job.”
Wagoner was a constant figure at the Winpisinger Center, where thousands of members, officers, and staff every year participated in leadership, organizing, negotiations, and other programs that built power and knowledge in the IAM. Wagoner would make a point to visit with every class he could, sharing, among many things, that the Winpisinger Center, and the labor movement, must be an inclusive, diverse and welcoming environment, free of any bias or discrimination for all.
“Wimpy’s vision created the Winpisinger Center, but no single person gave it more life and purpose than Chris Wagoner,” said Winpisinger Center Director Mary McHugh. “His contribution to our union is simply immeasurable.”
Wagoner oversaw a massive expansion in programming at the Winpisinger Center, including negotiations preparation, remote learning, and Spanish-language classes. He led the Center through the COVID-19 pandemic, adapting quickly to remote learning and fighting tirelessly to rehire Winpisinger Center staff and reopen the facility with necessary precautions.
Prior to coming to the Winpisinger Center, Wagoner worked as an aide for the Committee on Labor and Industry in the Kentucky General Assembly. He also worked in the Labor Education Program and the Illinois Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program at the University of Illinois. Wagoner received his bachelor of science degree in political science from the University of Louisville and his master of arts degree in industrial relations from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
In lieu of flowers, the Wagoner family asks that donations go to the IAM’s favorite charity, Guide Dogs of America/Tender Loving Canines, in memory of Chris Wagoner.
Watch as Apple Workers Make History with the Machinists Union
Watch as Apple Workers Make History With the Machinists and Aerospace UnioniMail23 May 2022Find out why Apple Workers in Maryland are Organizing with the Machinists Union.The Apple Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (CORE), a group of Apple retail employees in...
JetBlue Launches Hostile Takeover Bid for Spirit
JetBlue is Launching a Hostile Takeover of Spirit Justice at JetBlue21 April 2022Earlier this month, Spirit Airlines rejected an offer by JetBlue to purchase the airline in a $33 per share, all-cash bid, preferring a merger with Frontier instead. On Monday, JetBlue...
Lufthansa Workers in Puerto Rico Vote to Join the Machinists Union
Lufthansa Technik Workers in Puerto Rico Vote to Join the Machinists UnionGoIAM.orgOrganizingWASHINGTON, May 5, 2022 –More than 200 mechanics and related who work in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, at Lufthansa Technik, Puerto Rico, LLC. voted to join the International...
The Largest Airline Workers Conference in the Country Wraps Up in Las Vegas.
The Largest Airline Workers Conference in the Country Wraps Up in Las Vegas.2022 Committee Conference5 May 2022The IAMAW District 141 Committee Conference brings together hundreds of labor leaders in the airline industry. The Conference comes as the Machinists Union...
Related News
The Dawn of the Machinists Union
The Dawn of the Machinists UnionIn the smoky workshops of late 19th century America, a revolution was brewing. The Industrial Age, with its booming factories and powerful railroads, had brought both progress and hardship.The Dawn of the Machinists UnionIAM141.org 14...
Reality Check: The Fallacy of “Just Save More” and Why Union Protections Matter More Than Ever
Reality Check: The Fallacy of "Just Save More" and Why Union Protections Matter More Than EverLast month, T. Rowe Price issued recommendations on retirement savings that, while perhaps well-intentioned, come across as not only unrealistic but downright insulting to...
Union Members at O’Hare Walk Out on Kirby; Sick and Tired of the Same Old Lip Service
Union Members at O'Hare Walk Out on Kirby; Sick and Tired of the Same Old Lip Service7 May 2024 United Airlines is no longer the airline it was under Oscar Muñoz. From 2015 to 2020, this company respected its employees, and, in return, those workers gave the airline...
IAM Mourns Loss of Retired Winpisinger Center Director Chris Wagoner
15 November 2022
Chris Wagoner, the longtime Director of the Winpisinger Education and Technology Center, has passed away.
The IAM is mourning the passing of Chris Wagoner, who recently retired as Director of the IAM’s William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center. Wagoner, 60, with his family by his side, passed away after a brief illness on Sunday, November 20, 2022.
Over his 33-year IAM career, Wagoner dedicated his life to training and educating union activists at the Winpisinger Center, a campus in Hollywood, MD that many call the IAM’s “crown jewel.”
After hiring on as an education representative at the Winpisinger Center in 1989, Wagoner became the center’s assistant director in 2005. He served as director since 2007. Wagoner retired from the IAM in July 2022.
“The entire IAM is simply heartbroken at the loss of such an iconic, caring and influential figure in our union,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Chris has been a great friend and confidant to myself and so many others through more than three decades of challenges and triumphs in the IAM. Our memories of Chris’s unyielding love for our union and our membership will forever live on for so many whom he touched throughout the years. We send our deepest condolences to his wife Jill, daughter Mollie, daughter-in-law Qifei Zeng, and everyone who loved and cherished what Chris brought to our lives on and off the job.”
Wagoner was a constant figure at the Winpisinger Center, where thousands of members, officers and staff every year participated in leadership, organizing, negotiations and other programs that built power and knowledge in the IAM. Wagoner would make a point to visit with every class he could, sharing, among many things, that the Winpisinger Center, and the labor movement, must be an inclusive, diverse and welcoming environment, free of any bias or discrimination for all.
“Wimpy’s vision created the Winpisinger Center, but no single person gave it more life and purpose than Chris Wagoner,” said Winpisinger Center Director Mary McHugh. “His contribution to our union is simply immeasurable.”
Wagoner oversaw a massive expansion in programming at the Winpisinger Center, including negotiations preparation, remote learning, and Spanish-language classes. He led the Center through the COVID-19 pandemic, adapting quickly to remote learning and fighting tirelessly to rehire Winpisinger Center staff and reopen the facility with necessary precautions.
Prior to coming to the Winpisinger Center, Wagoner worked as an aide for the Committee on Labor and Industry in the Kentucky General Assembly. He also worked in the Labor Education Program and the Illinois Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program at the University of Illinois. Wagoner received his bachelor of science degree in political science from the University of Louisville and his master of arts degree in industrial relations from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
In lieu of flowers, the Wagoner family asks that donations go to the IAM’s favorite charity, Guide Dogs of America/Tender Loving Canines, in memory of Chris Wagoner.
Related News
The Dawn of the Machinists Union
The Dawn of the Machinists UnionIn the smoky workshops of late 19th century America, a revolution was brewing. The Industrial Age, with its booming factories and powerful railroads, had brought both progress and hardship.The Dawn of the Machinists UnionIAM141.org 14...
Reality Check: The Fallacy of “Just Save More” and Why Union Protections Matter More Than Ever
Reality Check: The Fallacy of "Just Save More" and Why Union Protections Matter More Than EverLast month, T. Rowe Price issued recommendations on retirement savings that, while perhaps well-intentioned, come across as not only unrealistic but downright insulting to...
Union Members at O’Hare Walk Out on Kirby; Sick and Tired of the Same Old Lip Service
Union Members at O'Hare Walk Out on Kirby; Sick and Tired of the Same Old Lip Service7 May 2024 United Airlines is no longer the airline it was under Oscar Muñoz. From 2015 to 2020, this company respected its employees, and, in return, those workers gave the airline...