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          ** UNIT PAGES **     Visit the Retiree Resource page for links to the CWA Retired Members' Council and related websites 
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Gene Mays: CWA PioneerThe story of Gene Mays, the first African-American local officer appointed to the CWA staff, vividly illustrates the connection between the struggles for civil rights and workers rights. Mays was a coal miner in West Virginia until 1943. After a stint in the US Army, he migrated to Buffalo, NY, where he was introduced to the union while working at Western Electric Wire and Cable Plant. He soon joined CWA Local 1162, which with Local 1191, 1152 and 1170, formed the foundation of CWA in Western New York in the 1940s and 1950s. Rising quickly in the union, Mays was elected Local 1162 president in the late '40s and appointed to staff as a CWA Representative in 1951. As a leader, he immediately faced major challenges These were the McCarthy years, and unions were not spared from being smeared with the "communist" brush. Shortly after Mays' election was local president, the company tried to decertify the union, making insinuations about CWA's affiliation with the CIO and Mays' African-American heritage. Under Mays' leadership, CWA won the battle against decertification in what amounted to a strike for recognition. CWA was certified for the Western Electric workers and CWA's combined membership in Western New York grew to 2,000 members. Over the next 10 years, CWA's influence increased as telephone workers were organized, with Mays playing a major role in supervising the efforts in upstate New York. He continued his active involvement when he was appointed assistant tot he vice president of District 1, Morton Bahr, in 1969. He was still the only black on the staff. In District 1, Mays served as CWA's defense fund agent during the longest strike in the union's history, against New York Telephone from July 14, 1971 to February 28, 1972.
Said Art Eve, a New York state senator,
Mays died unexpedtedly in 1973.
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