(OLEAN) – Former Cattaraugus-Allegany AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Hobart “Hobie” McKay Rhinehart, who captained the Southern Tier Labor Council for 15 years, has passed at the age of 83.  He is being remembered today (December 9th) by several regional Labor Leaders as not only a tenacious advocate for ordinary Working People, but one who will be sorely missed by the entire Western New York Labor Movement.

Born on July 22nd, 1928 in Erie, Pennsylvania, Rhinehart passed away peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, December 8th at Olean General Hospital after a long struggle with illness. 

Rhinehart served as president of the Cattaraugus-Allegany AFL-CIO Central Labor - which counts 10 affiliated Unions that combine to represent 10,000 Union Members across Cattaraugus and Allegany counties - for 15 years.  However, for many of those years, Rhinehart was a constant in the World of Organized Labor in the Southern Tier of Western New York.  

Karen Fenner, a 14-year Union Member with United Steelworkers (USW) Local 5429 in Olean, was elected to succeed Rhinehart - who stepped down as Labor Council President in December 2010 - and became the first woman president of the Cattaraugus-Allegany AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.

“It’s a huge understatement that Labor has lost such a great leader,” Fenner told WNYLaborToday.com.  “He is irreplaceable.  He was so full of knowledge, you couldn’t imagine, and he was still so involved and committed.  In fact, over the summer he took part – in his 80s – in an informational picket line in Olean.”

In January, Fenner told Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper that she was pleased to be on the receiving end of having Rhinehart  “stick around” and provide his many years of experience to Fenner as the transition to new leadership in the Southern Tier Labor Movement takes place.  

“I’ve been vice president of the Council for the last couple of years, but I don’t have (Rhinehart’s) vast years of experience.  I never even thought of the possibility of trying to fill his shoes.  He’s a very valuable asset to the Cattaraugus-Allegany Labor Council.  Luckily, Hobie’s agreed to stay on and help with the transition,” Fenner said at the time.

Several Western New York Labor Leaders contacted by WNYLaborToday.com all offered warm remembrances of Rhinehart:

• Richard Lipsitz, the interim president of the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) – the umbrella Labor Organization that counts the Buffalo, Niagara-Orleans, Dunkirk, Jamestown and Cattaraugus-Allegany Councils as its members – told Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper that Rhinehart “was a wonderful gentlemen in every sense of the word.  He was a tremendous advocate for ordinary Working People.  He will be greatly missed by all of us.”

• “I’ve known Hobie since the Seventies,” Dunkirk AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Doug Stock said.  “He was a great guy and a great Labor Leader, and one of the most tenacious Labor Leaders I’ve ever known.  Labor ‘was’ his life.  He will be sorely missed.”

• Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council Jim Briggs said: “I am sad to learn of his passing.  Hobie Rhinehart had a lot of passion for the Labor Movement right up until the day he left.  He worked in solidarity with other Labor Leaders across Western New York and many lives have been made better because of it.  We all thank him for his service.”

• NYSUT (New York State United Teachers) Southwestern Regional Staff Director David Eggert said Rhinehart - whose Labor roots can be traced back to the Statewide Teachers Union (Rhinehart also served as president of the NYSUT Retirees Council 4 that covers Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and Steuben counties across the Southern Tier) – “was a ‘real’ champion for NYSUT and Organized Labor for many years.  Even when I first started (in the Labor Movement) back in the Seventies, Hobie was already a ‘veteran.’  He was involved in an endless number of organizations, many of which he started.  He also started the first credit union in our area and the first Labor-Religion Coalition in this part of the State.  He was at a meeting every night and when he retired, he was at a meeting every day.  And when you needed support, he lent a hand.  And when you needed a Labor Leader, he was there.  He was also very heavily involved in politics and worked hard to elect many Labor-endorsed Democrats.”

• IUPAT (Painters) District Council 4 Business Manager Dan Boody first met Rhinehart in the early 200s when Boody agreed to become the first president of the WNYALF (Boody served five years in the position): “(Hobie) was a very kind and warm man and he was the classic example of a Labor Leader.  I remember that even though he had to use and carry around a small oxygen tank that was hooked up to his nose so he could breathe, he always made it up to our WNYALF meetings.  It is truly sad to learn of his passing.”

Rhinehart is survived by his wife, Audrey (Glenn) Rhinehart, whom he married in July 1948, of Cattaraugus, New York; Five children: Richard (Ellen) Rhinehart (son) of Waterville, Maine; Yvonne (William) Wehust (daughter) of Rushford, New York; Loren Rhinehart (son) of Cattaraugus, New York; John (Amy) Rhinehart (son) of Cattaraugus, New York; Kevin Waite (foster-son) of East Otto, New York; six grand-children and six great grand-children.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, December 12th at 10 a.m. at the Roberts Memorial Free Methodist Church on South Street in Cattaraugus.  Burial will be in the nearby Liberty Park Cemetery.  Visitation will be held at the Hills Funeral Chapel, located at 55 South Main Street in Cattaraugus, on Saturday from 7-to-9 p.m. and on Sunday from 2-to-4 p.m. and 7-to-9 p.m.

For more information, contact the Hill Funeral Chapel at 716-257-3914 or visit www.hillsfuneralchapel.com

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: On December 22^nd, 2010, WNYLaborToday.com published the following Labor Profile (http://www.wnylabortoday.com/index.php?src=news&refno=1543&category=Southern) on on Hobie Rhinehart that was headlined:

While There’s Been Many Changes In The “World Of Organized Labor” Over The Years, There’s Been One Constant Across Both Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties – Central Labor Council President Hobart “Hobie” Rhinehart

Eighty-Two-Year-Old Labor Leader - Who Tells WNYLaborToday.com He’s Considering Stepping Down As CLC President Before Upcoming Election - Is Proud Of His Many Accomplishments, Most Notably: Seeking Justice For All Workers

(OLEAN) – In recent years, Organized Labor has been - and still is depending on whom you talk to - in a state of transition.  Battling inaccurate and negative stereotypes, dealing with outsourced jobs to off-shore lands, the “Great Recession” revisited and an ever-transforming economy have all contributed to our current day, tumultuous climate that Organized Labor, Unions and their Members now find themselves living in.

However, for many of those years, Hobart Rhinehart has been a constant in the World of Organized Labor across Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in the Southern Tier of Western New York.  

“Hobie” - as he is better known to so many - has served as president of the Cattaraugus-Allegany AFL-CIO County Central Labor Council (CLC), which counts 10 affiliated Unions that combine to represent 10,000 Union Members across Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, for the past 15 years.  And during the time he’s headed the CLC’s Executive Committee, Hobie has seen and dealt with - first-hand - the challenges and subsequent changes Organized Labor and Union Members alike have faced over the course of time. 

“Organized Labor has lost some of its clout, but it’s still just as important,” Rhinehart said during a recent interview with WNYLaborToday.com in Olean.  “Unions have pushed for benefits that non-Union Workers get too.  Benefits, wages and hours – those are ‘bread and butter’ in Unions, and eventually laws were passed that set up a forty-hour work week.  All of that wouldn’t have come if Unions hadn’t pushed for it.”

As president of the Cattaraugus-Allegany CLC, Rhinehart has stood in the forefront of the Union Movement in the Southern Tier by continuing Organized Labor’s fight for better benefits, wages and conditions for all Workers.

Being involved and playing a role in politics, work actions and the day-in, day-out camaraderie and positive relationships he’s grown with so many other Unions and their Members over the years are just some of his favorite and personal memories of being involved in Organized Labor.

However, there’s one area of his involvement that rises like cream to the top of the bowl: seeking justice for Workers.

Specifically, Rhinehart highlighted a “Sweat-Free Project” that was aimed at tackling sweatshop-produced goods in the marketplace, as well as helping to eliminate sweatshops altogether.

“We worked on sweatshops so people don’t have to work long hours without the pay,” he said. “Probably the biggest thing in New York State is (Unions) have gotten many universities and colleges to agree to buy Union-made products – hats, uniforms – things like that.”

Rhinehart’s positive impact hasn’t only been facilitated through his work as president of the Cattaraugus-Allegany CLC.

For nearly the past 20 years, Hobie’s served as president and on the Advisory Board of the Cattaraugus County Museum and Research Center in the Cattaraugus County Town of Machias. 

It’s a post Rhinehart enjoys because of the museum’s mission and the people who are involved. 

“We have different exhibits and we have a lot of people who come in and research – it’s a community effort – and I think we do good work for people,” he said. “We also have part-time employees, a historian and a curator, and they’re all excellent people, who do an excellent job.”

As if Rhinehart didn’t already have enough on his plate, he also helped establish the CCSE (formerly known as the Cattaraugus County School Employees) Federal Credit Union back in 1977.  During the past 33 years, the credit union has grown to reach $25 million in assets.  

Rhinehart’s continued dedication was recognized this past June as the Credit Union Association of New York honored him as its 2010 Outstanding Volunteer. 

It was not the first award that Hobie has received in his long and distinguished Union career. 

“I’ve got enough awards to cover the walls of my office, if I wanted to,” he joked.

In short - Rhinehart said he “enjoys helping people” and promoting a volunteer-infused mentality that’s allowed him to gain such recognition on behalf of standing up and working hard for Working People.

Outstanding is certainly the perfect adjective to describe Rhinehart - who started his Union career as a manufacturing worker for the Globar Corporation, a division of the Carborundum Company – in Niagara Falls year ago, where he helped produce Globar, which is used in electric furnaces.  After 10 years in that job, he decided to go to college and subsequently became a teacher at Cattaraugus High School (now known as Cattaraugus-Little Valley High School) where he taught Social Studies to kids in Grades 9, 11 and 12 for 28 years.

While he’s had a long and productive run with Organized Labor, Rhinehart told WNYLaborToday.com during our recent interview that he’s considering stepping down from his position as Cattaraugus-Allegany CLC president before the upcoming election in 2011.

“I’ve been (president) long enough, maybe too long,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m getting physically restricted, so I get the feeling I should be stepping down soon.”

If Rhinehart does decide to step away as president of the Cattaraugus-Allegany CLC, he says he will continue to be active in Organized Labor, including continuing to serve as president of the NYSUT (New York State United Teachers) Retirees Division that covers Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and Steuben counties across the Southern Tier.

Needless to say, when Hobie Rhinehart does indeed step down and no longer heads the Cattaraugus-Allegany CLC, his successor will have some very large shoes to fill.

That person will also be following a dedicated individual who’s been truly outstanding in his service to Organized Labor and Working People alike across the Southern Tier.