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Letter from the President
Bob Chauvin: great guy who cared for others
By CHRIS DUGOVICH
Chris Dugovich
Council 2 President/Executive Director
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It is all too true that many of our friends leave too early. One of them recently was Bob Chauvin who passed away on February 2 after a long, tough fight with cancer. He was 56.
I first met Bob in December of ’79, weeks away from graduation at the University of Puget Sound. I had accepted a job at the ripe old age of 23 as a Labor Relations Representative for WPEA, the Washington Public Employees Association, and Bob was the Foreign Student Coordinator at Yakima Valley College and the President of the WPEA chapter. I was his staff person and we soon not only enjoyed working together, but became friends.
Back then Bob had the run of the college, not only with his fellow employees but with the students. He knew everyone and everyone knew him.
One of my first real experiences handling a labor issue that brought media attention came with Bob in May, 1980. On the 18th of that month and year Mount St. Helen’s blew its top and buried Yakima in a thick layer of ash. Bob’s members were off work for a week and all of a sudden the college was docking their pay. When it turned out that the employees at the college were one of the few to lose pay due to the mountain’s eruption, Bob filed a grievance and led the way. I still laugh at how nervous I was when the local TV station showed up to cover our Chapter Union meeting. Bob handled it well and a short time later the college agreed to compensate everyone who lost time due to the eruption.
Bob continued at the college until we both came to Council 2 as staff representatives in 1982. He spent several years in the mid-eighties representing our members in the Thurston County and Grays Harbor County areas. He left to return to Yakima and Central Washington and spent some time working for the state Department of Labor and Industries before going to work for Council 28 in 1989.
Bob Chauvin
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After I became President in 1989 I tried to hire Bob back several times and actually succeeded for a short period, but he always returned to Council 28, commenting he was just more comfortable in the state system. During his 13 years with Council 28 he fought countless battles for a countless number of state employees. He relished his role, fighting for the underdog and doing it well.
He could tell you hair-raising stories about his time in Vietnam as a medical corpsman and was extremely proud of his service there. He was in Khe Sanh during that major battle of the war and saw more than his share of the suffering when helping others.
Bob was a true gentleman who worked hard, made it fun and never took himself too seriously. He enjoyed fishing and bragged of his three daughters, Daniel, Nicole and Chanelle. Over the years he touched and inspired many members in both Council 2 and Council 28. Many of those individuals he pushed to become active in this union are the leaders we have today.
All of us at Council 2 will miss our visits with Bob, while traveling through Yakima or hooking up during international union events. Bob had retired in the summer of 2002 and, although tied down by kidney dialysis brought on by the cancer treatment, he continued to be as active as possible.
He was, and will continue to be, known as a great guy who cared about others. |
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