By CHRIS DUGOVICH

Chris Dugovich
Council 2 President/Executive Director

SAM KINVILLE passed away on Labor Day, and — although Sam certainly was not one who was big on honors or symbols — he symbolized that day for many of us.

Sam was the real modern-day founder of Council 2.

He was its first full-time president and it was his efforts more than those of anyone else who brought collective bargaining to local government employees in 1967.

Sam studied the concept, wrote the bill, lobbied the lawmakers and urged the then-Republican governor to sign it. Dan Evans did. And collective bargaining became the backbone of our union and is really the reason we’ve grown to better than 16,000 members statewide.

At the time it was not a safe move, but Sam believed that this system of allowing public employees to have a real voice at their place of employment was fair and right.

Others, including the state employees, actually argued against collective bargaining and requested that they be amended out of the law. They were amended out and it took them an additional 35 years to gain the right.

His relationship with Council 2 began in 1957 and continued until Labor Day.

During that close-to-50-year span, he never stopped pushing for public employees’ rights and helping others.

He recommended me to my predecessor when I was hired in 1982 as staff representative. In 1989, when I became president his advice kept me going in the right direction more than once. As Council 2’s lobbyist even after his formal retirement from the state, he continued to pass laws that strengthened our original collective bargaining law and brought those rights to new groups. District Court employees are only one of such groups.

Growing up in the tough mining town that Butte Montana was, he started his working life as a school teacher and continued in many areas in both labor and public employment. He worked as a social worker and attended his first AFSCME convention as a member in 1956.

Sam built the foundation for Council 2 and went on to work for the Washington State Labor Council. He was on the board of industrial insurance appeals and was appointed by Governor Spellman as the director of Labor and Industries. Even after his lobbyist years with Council 2 he was appointed by Governor Lowry to serve on the Public Employment Relations Commission. He never stopped advocating for others!

He could be difficult at times, but part of his manner of teaching was the art of debate. I always enjoyed his spirited debates with attorneys in which Sam would start his pitch with, “I’m not an attorney but...” That was his sucker punch that would start a very good argument based on an extensive knowledge of the law. Sam didn’t lose those debates very often.

His friendships among staff and members, the knowledge that he passed on to me, Pat Thompson and countless others cannot be replaced. He was a hard working friend who left a legacy at Council 2 that will continue to help others far into the future.

Our thoughts go out to his wife Louella and his daughters Kathleen, Kelly and Kerry Mae.