Tom Berry (D-TX-5)

Tom Berry Congressional Candidate Texas District 5

Campaign links: Tom Berry (D-TX-5)

Biography of Tom Berry

Biography from Citizens for Tom Berry

Tom Berry is a Fenwick High School Graduate (Oak Park IL), attended St. Mary’s College (Winona, MN), Wright Jr. College (Chicago, IL), and took courses at DePaul and Loyola Universities, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a background in economics, labor law, political science, and labor education. Tom also served in the U.S. Navy aboard ship on the Cuban blockade, qualified as a U.S. Navy Instructor, served 12 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

When Tom Berry started working for the Chicago and North Western Railway in 1959, there were still a few steam engines on the tracks. Back then, fresh off his first year of college, Tom figured it was only going to be a summer job. Instead he wound up working on the railroad for 47 years, ultimately being a conductor.

Today, Berry, 69, resides in Dallas, TX, retired since 2006 from the Union Pacific Railroad as the company’s most senior employee in the Chicago area.

Tom has served in a variety of important capacities. In addition to being called upon as an expert witness and analyst, he has served as State Legislative Director for Illinois and elected Chairman of Local 528 (five four-year terms from 1971 to 1991) of the nation’s largest rail union, the United Transportation Union, served as an elected legislative representative for his union (seven four-year terms from 1972 to 2000), and served as an elected Delegate to the International Convention for his union (four four-year terms from 1975 to 1991). Also Tom has been called to appear many times before the Interstate Commerce Commission, and in matters before its successor agency, the Surface Transportation Board. Tom is no stranger to helping with labor/management decisions in transportation. He is respected in the field of rail mergers, acquisitions, and law, including government regulation of a vital national industry. Tom also served as an expert witness before the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and legislative committees. He also is known for co-founding Amtrak-for-Profit, a coalition in Washington, DC, formed to force the nation’s passenger train system to use modern technology to improve its loss-to-profit margins.

Articulate and knowledgeable, Tom knows how to use the legislative process for the benefit of his constituents, served 25 years as an elected Democratic Precinct Committeeman in DuPage County, IL, elected and served on the DuPage County Democratic Party Executive Board, and was his party’s nominee for a seat in Congress in 1994 and 2002, and for State Representative in 1996.

In February, 2009 Tom founded the College of Complexes in Dallas, TX, a local Weekly Free Speech Forum. Its website is http://www.collegeofcomplexes.org/2.html Tom also serves on the Dallas Board of the American Civil Liberties Union. (ACLU), and is active in Democratic politics in Dallas County.