An active leader for the labor force in Southeast Ohio died last week before he could make it to Columbus to protest the much-debated collective bargaining bill.
Bill Sams, former regional director of the American Federation for State, County and Municipal Employees Council 8, had a heart attack Wednesday, March 30.
He was preparing to leave for the Ohio Statehouse, where House Representatives were voting on Senate Bill 5, which would limit collective bargaining rights for public sector unions.
After the bill passed 53-44 on the house floor Wednesday, State Representative Debbie Phillips (D-Athens) requested a parliamentary point of personal privilege to honor Sams, an opponent of the bill.
“Bill Sams lived what he believed every day,” Phillips said during her speech at the statehouse. “He worked every day for working families in Southeast Ohio.”
In addition to being the regional director of AFSCME Council 8, Sams also was the president of the Southeast Ohio American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and the chairman of the Southeast Ohio Area Labor Federation.
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