William Lucy | Nelson Edwards | Cleveland Robinson | Charles A.
Hayes | William H. Simons | Original CBTU Leaders  Charles A.
Hayes (deceased) International Vice President United Food &
Commercial Workers  Charlie Hayes was the first trade unionist
ever elected to Congress. He served five terms, from 1983 to
1993. He represented one of the poorest districts in the nation,
the southside of Chicago. His predecessor, Harold Washington,
became Chicago's first elected black mayor in a bitter 1983
campaign, a close race where Hayes lobbied, cajoled and raised a
lot of union money, mobilized thousands of labor volunteers and
rallied scores of union voters for Washington's landmark
victory. Often Congressman Hayes was the "voice of conscience."
He passionately urged his colleagues in Congress to spare
federal job training and anti-poverty programs, while warning
CBTU members not to get complacent. Congressman Hayes was a
prolific union man for 45 years. In the 1950s, he raised funds
that fueled Dr. Martin Luther King