Let me say this about that
—By Gene Klare
Fast enters Hall of Fame
BILL FAST, 88, a retired port agent for the Marine Engineers Beneficial Asso-
ciation (MEBA), stands in the spotlight as the newest member of the Labor Hall of
Fame. He was given that honor by the sponsoring Northwest Oregon Labor Retirees
Council, which is affiliated with the Portland-based Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil (NOLC) of the AFL-CIO.
Fast retired in 1988 after serving as MEBA’s Portland port agent for 22 years. He
and his wife, Beverly, live in Lake Oswego in Clackamas County.
IN HIS CAREER running the MEBA office, Fast was active in a number of or-
ganizations. He served as president of
the Portland Maritime Trades Council
and of the Multnomah County Labor
Council, which has since become part
of NOLC. He was president of Port-
land-based Labor’s Community Ser-
vice Agency and was president of the
Willamette Democratic Society. His
civic service included eight years as a
governor-appointed member of the
Port of Portland Commission. Another
facet of his work was serving as a con-
sultant to the the Marine Cooks and
Stewards Union in the Portland area.
William Martin Fast was born on
Oct. 4, 1918 in Kingston, Idaho, west
of Kellogg in the metals mining district
of the Gem State’s Panhandle. After
graduating from high school, he fol-
lowed his father into the lead and silver
BILL FAST
mines, working for the Bunker Hill Co.
Bill moved to Seattle in 1941 and
joined the U.S. Merchant Marine, becoming a member of MEBA. He shipped out
of West Coast and East Coast ports in World War II and served on ships transport-
ing supplies to U.S. military forces in various war zones. After the war, Fast made
Seattle his home port. When he was not at sea, he became active in politics and
worked on election campaigns of Washington’s Democratic U.S. Senators Warren
Magnuson and Henry (Scoop) Jackson. Later, in Portland. Fast was a labor co-
chairman for Jackson when Scoop tried for the Democratic presidential nomination.
AFTER BECOMING MEBA’S man in Portland, Fast traveled Oregon with
Democratic U.S. Senator Wayne Morse in his 1962 re-election campaign. Although
he’s a Democrat, he supported several MEBA-endorsed Republicans for public of-
fice, including Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood, who became U.S. senators in the
latter 1960s, and Vic Atiyeh, elected governor in the 1970s. Fast helped Democrat
Les AuCoin get elected to Congress and supported Aaron Brown and Tom Moul-
trie in their elections to judgeships at the Multnomah County Courthouse; both had
worked as union members before becoming lawyers. Atiyeh appointed Fast to the
Port Commission and also appointed two other union leaders to the Port; he’s the
only governor ever to name three unionists to the Port’s governing board. Fast’s po-
litical activity also included being the Oregon labor chairman for Richard M.
Nixon’s successful 1968 presidential run because Nixon had promised to support
increased construction of ships in the U.S. In 1976, MEBA and Fast supported De-
mocratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in his successful run for the White
House. Fast and his wife Beverly attended Carter’s inauguration. Fast also sup-
ported Congressman Peter DeFazio, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and others, includ-
ing Congressman Wendell Wyatt.
As a longtime Merchant Mariner, Fast was among those who campaigned for
Congressional approval of veterans’ benefits for the merchant seamen of World
War II. He still serves on the board of directors of the United States Merchant Ma-
rine Veterans League. He told the NW Labor Press that the League has only 80
PDC Board wants more time to
amend new construction wage policy
Plans to amend a two-week-old
Portland Development Commission
construction wage policy were pushed
back by the PDC Board at its Jan. 24
meeting.
On Jan. 10, the PDC Board adopted
a policy to pay construction workers
state prevailing wage rates on private
projects that receive more than $1 mil-
lion in funding form the quasi-public
agency, which serves as the develop-
ment arm of the City of Portland.
In addition to wage rates, the new
policy also calls for specific hiring
goals for women and minorities on a
project-by-project basis.
At the Jan. 10 meeting, Commis-
sioner Charles Wilhoite expressed
concern that the policy didn’t include
language that gave PDC the ability to
levy economic sanctions on develop-
ers who failed to meet stated hiring
goals. After discussing the issue, the
Board directed PDC staff to amend the
policy to include enforcement actions
and to bring it back for a vote on Jan.
24.
At the Jan. 24 meeting, the revised
wage policy included language for
b h
m k
economic sanctions, but didn’t set spe-
cific dollar figures. Wilhoite said any
fines should be pooled and earmarked
for “diversity organizations.”
During public testimony, attorney
Jim Francesconi, speaking on behalf
of the Carpenters, Operating Engi-
neers and Laborers, said the unions
support the wage policy in general, but
he pointed to a couple of “loopholes”
in the policy that “will certainly cause
controversy down the road.”
One provision states that: “when
the total floor area of publicly-owned
space is less than 50 percent of the to-
tal floor area of the combined public-
private space, the policy shall not ap-
ply to the construction of the
privately-owned space unless this por-
tion of the project receives $1 million
or more in PDC resources.”
The other provision says: “if proj-
ects constructed privately include pub-
lic and private ownership portions that
can be separated for construction pur-
poses, the public portion of the project
shall be subject to the policy and the
private portion shall be exempt from
the policy.”
Bennett Hartman
Morris & Kaplan, llp
Attorneys at Law
Oregon’s Full Service Union Law Firm
Representing Workers Since 1960
Serious Injury and Death Cases
• Construction Injuries
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Francesconi said that bringing own-
ership back into the equation is what
caused so many problems in the first
place. “Ownership injects a whole lot
of confusion,” he said. “I think you’re
setting yourself up for a whole lot of
controversy.”
Francesconi, a former city commis-
sioner and mayoral candidate, said the
Operating Engineers also would like to
see demolition included in the $1 mil-
lion threshold. As it stands, the wage
policy states that demolition and envi-
ronmental remediation will be consis-
tent with rules under the Oregon Bu-
reau of Labor and Industries.
Other suggestions the Board heard
for amending the construction wage
policy included adding incentives as
well as sanctions to hiring goals; man-
dating apprenticeship training on proj-
ects; requiring nonunion contractors
and training programs to submit an-
nual affirmative action reports (the
policy instructs only affiliates of the
Building Trades Council to file re-
ports); and exempting certain trades
from working on projects if they don’t
meet affirmative action goals.
PDC Chairman Mark Rosenbaum
asked, and the Board agreed, to delay
a vote on amending the policy until its
next meeting on Feb. 14. “I think that
after the discussion today, we need to
bring it back,” he said.
NOTE: John Mohlis, executive
secretary-treasurer of the Columbia-
Pacific Building Trades Council at-
tended his first meeting as a commis-
sioner of the PDC on Jan. 24. He was
appointed to the Board by Portland
Mayor Tom Potter and confirmed by a
unanimous vote of City Council on
Jan. 17.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
FEBRUARY 2, 2007