Robert H. (Bob) Baker, Sr., was elected international executive vice president of the Amalgamated Transit Union by the delegates to the 56th International ATU Convention on October 1, 2010.
Bob Baker became a member of ATU Local 627-Cincinatti, OH, after he was hired as a bus operator for the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority in 1973. He subsequently became an executive board member in 1975, vice-president in 1977, and then president of Local 627, serving from 1979 to 1989.
During his terms as local president, Baker earned degrees in Labor Law and Labor History from the Cincinnati Branch of Ohio State University. In 2005, he graduated from the Harvard Law School/Trade Union Program.
While serving his local union he also served as president of the Ohio Legislative Conference, president of the ATU-Joint Conference, and president and executive board member of the over-100,000 member Cincinnati AFL-CIO.
In 1989, he was elected an international vice-president and was re-elected to that position by every subsequent Convention until his election as international executive vice president in 2010.
As an international vice president he assisted over 90 different local unions, negotiated hundreds of contracts, and presented many interest arbitrations and fact-finding reports. He conducted several local union audits, participated in organizing drives and fought against raids from other unions.
