Associate Secretary-Treasurer James Dunn began working at International Paper's pulp and paper mill in Pine Bluff, Ark., in 1958. For 14 years he served as a medic in the Arkansas Army National Guard. He has been a member of PACE (formerly UPIU) Local 5-1731 since he began work, and served as local president from 1963-67.

Dunn served 22 years from 1967 as a labor organizer and union representative, first of the United Papermakers and Paperworkers prior to the merger that created the United Paperworkers International Union, and then of the merged union.

In 1988, Dunn became Secretary-Treasurer of the UPIU. Since his election, he has worked to modernize the union's financial and record-keeping procedures.