Ralph Maly Retires as T&T Vice President; Bill Bates Sworn In

Ralph Maly, CWA's outgoing T&T vice president, at the 2013 CWA Convention.

Below: CWA President Larry Cohen swears in Bill Bates as T&T vice president.

CWA's Vice President for Telecommunications and Technologies, Ralph Maly, retired last week after 48 years of service to CWA members and our union. Bill Bates, who served as National Telecom Director and Assistant to Maly, was appointed T&T Vice President by the CWA Executive Board and sworn in this week.

In retirement, Maly will continue to be a CWA leader and activist and will join with Florida locals and staff in political work and movement building, including Central Florida Jobs with Justice.

He was elected Vice President of CWA's Communications and Technologies sector in July 2001; the Telecommunications and Technologies sector later was formed by the merger of two Telecom sectors, part of the Ready for the Future Strategic Plan adopted by convention delegates.

After joining Western Electric in Buffalo in 1965, Maly served as Steward, Chief Steward and Organizing Coordinator for CWA Local 1162, in addition to working on national organizing campaigns. He transferred to the Atlanta plant where he served as CWA Local 3263 President for five years.

A CWA Representative since 1989, Maly was named Assistant to Jim Irvine, then Vice President for Communications and Technologies.

Bill Bates has been a CWA and union activist since 1973 when he joined AT&T as a Communications Technician in Detroit, Michigan. A member of CWA Local 4050, he served as Steward, Chief Steward, Vice President and President, from 1988 to 2001.

A Staff Representative since 2001, Bates was appointed Assistant to the CWA Secretary-Treasurer in 2006 and National Telecom Director in 2008.