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Ron Allen Retires; Assistant to CWA President and Former VP
Ronald J. Allen, assistant to CWA President Morton Bahr and a former CWA vice president, has retired after 38 years of service to the union.
President Bahr named George Kohl, senior executive director of research and development, to fill the position as assistant to the president/director of research.
As CWA vice president for AT&T Technologies in 1986, Allen shared responsibilities on a seven-member bargaining committee with then Executive Vice President John Carroll and with Jim Irvine, then CWA vice president for AT&T Communications. That team worked 14-hour days getting information to anxious members and distributing financial assistance during a bitter 26-day strike.
As assistant to the vice president of Communications and Technologies after the union restructured, and later as assistant to Bahr, Allen had the pleasure of seeing 13,000 women participate in a $66 million settlement CWA reached in 1991 in a sex discrimination suit on their behalf. Allen, as a local president in the 1970s, had filed a grievance against AT&T/Western Electric that became the basis for the national class action on behalf of women who took pregnancy and maternity leaves between 1965 and 1979.
“Ron’s steadfastness and dependability have been real assets for CWA,” Bahr said. “Ron has continually served our members well.”
Allen, 56, began employment with AT&T Technologies in 1962 as a machine operator in the company’s Kansas City manufacturing plant. He joined CWA Local 6360 and was soon elected shop steward. He subsequently served as chief steward, vice president and president.
In 1980 Allen joined the union staff as a CWA representative assigned to the Kansas City office, serving until he was elected CWA vice president for AT&T Technologies at the 1984 convention.
In 1987, when CWA combined AT&T Technologies and AT&T Communications into a single department, Allen became assistant to the vice president of Communications and Technologies.
In 1996 Allen was tapped by Bahr to become his assistant, following former assistant Larry Mancino’s election as vice president of CWA District 1.
Kohl, 48, came to CWA in February 1980 as a research assistant and has headed the research department since 1988. He also helped develop and build CWA’s participation in Jobs with Justice.
President Bahr named George Kohl, senior executive director of research and development, to fill the position as assistant to the president/director of research.
As CWA vice president for AT&T Technologies in 1986, Allen shared responsibilities on a seven-member bargaining committee with then Executive Vice President John Carroll and with Jim Irvine, then CWA vice president for AT&T Communications. That team worked 14-hour days getting information to anxious members and distributing financial assistance during a bitter 26-day strike.
As assistant to the vice president of Communications and Technologies after the union restructured, and later as assistant to Bahr, Allen had the pleasure of seeing 13,000 women participate in a $66 million settlement CWA reached in 1991 in a sex discrimination suit on their behalf. Allen, as a local president in the 1970s, had filed a grievance against AT&T/Western Electric that became the basis for the national class action on behalf of women who took pregnancy and maternity leaves between 1965 and 1979.
“Ron’s steadfastness and dependability have been real assets for CWA,” Bahr said. “Ron has continually served our members well.”
Allen, 56, began employment with AT&T Technologies in 1962 as a machine operator in the company’s Kansas City manufacturing plant. He joined CWA Local 6360 and was soon elected shop steward. He subsequently served as chief steward, vice president and president.
In 1980 Allen joined the union staff as a CWA representative assigned to the Kansas City office, serving until he was elected CWA vice president for AT&T Technologies at the 1984 convention.
In 1987, when CWA combined AT&T Technologies and AT&T Communications into a single department, Allen became assistant to the vice president of Communications and Technologies.
In 1996 Allen was tapped by Bahr to become his assistant, following former assistant Larry Mancino’s election as vice president of CWA District 1.
Kohl, 48, came to CWA in February 1980 as a research assistant and has headed the research department since 1988. He also helped develop and build CWA’s participation in Jobs with Justice.