Robert E. "Bob" Wages (born August 18, 1949) is a former American labor union leader.
Born in Kansas City, Kansas, Wages studied at the University of Kansas. He then followed his father in working at a Phillips Petroleum Company refinery, and joined the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers' International Union (OCAW). During this period, he studied law part-time at the University of Missouri. He graduated in 1975 and began working as an attorney for the city of Raymore, Missouri, then became an assistant legal counsel for OCAW.[1] [2] [3]
In 1981, Wages was appointed as the administrative assistant to the president of OCAW, and then at the end of the year, he was appointed as a vice-president of the union. He was elected to the post on an ongoing basis in 1985, and re-elected in 1988. In 1991, he was elected as president of the union, and in 1995 he was additionally elected as a vice-president of the AFL-CIO.
As leader of OCAW, Wages negotiated a merger which formed the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, which was completed in 1999. He became executive vice-president of the new union. He retired in 2001, but agreed to continue leading the union's negotiations on agreements in the oil industry, which were concluded in August 2002.[4]