Retired union administrator Tom Lux named to SCC Board of Trustees

Tom Lux, SCC Trustee

By Jim Hills

If there’s anyone who knows about the role education and training plays in the economy, it’s Tom Lux.

The Lake Forest Park resident, who was recently named to the Board of Trustees for Shoreline Community College, is also recently retired as an administrator with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union.

From 2003-11, Lux managed a joint labor/management team of program managers and career advisors that developed training opportunities and assisted Boeing hourly workers with their career paths.  He was also the leader of the labor/management safety committee at Boeing Renton plant.

“Washington state is a competitor in the global economy and must develop and produce highly skilled workers,” Lux wrote in his application for the gubernatorial appointment. “I see the Community and Technical Colleges as essential institutions for this task. I believe the Trustees fulfill a critical role in this mission.”

Lux started at Boeing as a machined parts inspector and coordinate measuring machine (CMM) operator. He went on to be a program manager with IAM/Boeing Joint Programs before moving to the administrator role.

Lux attended high school Buffalo, NY, received a BA degree from Marquette University and then went back to school at Waukesha County Technical Institute, in Pewaukee, Wisc., for an AA in Industrial Safety and Health.

Lux continues to stay involved in aerospace training, volunteering as a member of the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee and the Aerospace Machinists Joint Training Committee. He has served on the Workforce Education Advisory Committee at South Seattle Community College and the Science Technician Advisory Committee at Lake Washington Institute of Technology.

Lux also has penchant for history, volunteering as the Washington Vice-President of the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association, chair of IAM/AW District 751 Labor History and Education Committee and a committee member for MayWorks, an annual month-long celebration of workers’ culture and history first organized in 2012.

Board appointments are for five years. Lux takes over Board Pos. 5 from Gidget Terpstra, whose term ended.