Roy Kubista, Dead at 90

MADISON, WISCONSIN

AFSCME's first secretary-treasurer, Roy Kubista, died here on Sept. 14 after a short illness.

In 1934, at the depth of the Depression, Kubista took a "temporary" job with the Wisconsin State Employees Association. He helped WSEA Exec. Director Arnold Zander coordinate the 1935 founding AFSCME Convention in Chicago. Zander was elected president; Kubista, secretary-treasurer.

A year later, Kubista became executive director of WSEA (now Council 24), remaining there until his 1970 retirement. He was proud of winning the 40-hour workweek for Wisconsin state employees during the 1940s — some two decades before the federal 40-hour law was extended to state and local workers. He also negotiated the first state-employee cost-of-living bonus in the country.

But Kubista considered his role in drafting the 1943 Wisconsin employee-pension plan his crowning achievement. Even after retirement, he served as Wisconsin AFSCME's pension consultant — always making improvements. Not long ago, Kubista saw a way to modify the plan, increasing retiree benefits and decreasing worker contributions — without additional costs to the state. He spent his last four years lobbying the idea into a law that became effective in June 2001. A jubilant Kubista was there to celebrate.