[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8771]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 CELEBRATING THE RETIREMENT OF MANO FREY, VICE PRESIDENT AND REGIONAL 
    MANAGER OF THE LABORERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, 
                            NORTHWEST REGION

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 8, 2012

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, Mano Frey originally hails from 
Yakima, Washington, where he grew up with a relatively small family of 
ten sisters and seven brothers.
  After graduating high school, Mano attended Seattle University where 
he majored in civil engineering. In 1970, Mano took a small break 
during his senior year to set off with his close friend for Alaska. 
Their destination? The now-famous city of Valdez, Alaska.
  After experiencing the wonders and magnificence of what some call 
``old Alaska,'' Mano decided to delay college in favor of joining 
Laborers' Local 341. Almost immediately he was dispatched to pour 
concrete for a new school using a 90lb pavement breaker.
  Soon, Mr. Frey became a steward for the drillers and powder men at 
the main terminal camp for the Trans Alaska Pipeline. The job, which at 
the time was the biggest in world history, had over 25 thousand people 
working on the line from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
  His reputation grew within the union's leadership and in 1977 he was 
appointed to be the area's business agent. A year later they asked him 
to transfer to the union's headquarters in Anchorage. Soon after Mano 
became the union's president. In 1981, he attained the job of Business 
Manager, a position he held until he became International Vice-
President and Regional Manager for LIUNA's Northwest Region.
  During his time in Alaska, Mano left his mark as a leader. On more 
than one occasion, Mr. Frey was recognized by the Alaska Journal of 
Commerce as being one of the top ten most powerful people in Alaska. He 
was the first and only labor leader to be given the Public Service Gold 
Pan Award by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.
  For a decade, Mano Co-Chaired the premier advocacy group Arctic 
Power, which advocated for the opening of the Alaska National Wildlife 
Refuge (ANWR) to oil exploration. To bring significant economic 
development to the State of Alaska and Nation.
  Leading the program, Mano oversaw the huge advocacy effort to open 
the nation's largest oil reserve. Legislation to open ANWR has passed 
the House 12 times due in no small part to the work of advocacy groups 
like Arctic Power and the Alaska Congressional Delegation. The bill 
even passed the Senate once, only to be vetoed by President Clinton 
soon afterwards.
  But, in his own inimitable style, Mano never lost faith and continued 
to push for the opening of ANWR, with the knowledge that if you ever 
let up on your goals, you certainly will never reach them.
  It was with that same determination that Mano served as the Alaska 
AFL-CIO's executive president from 1984 until 2003. During his tenure, 
Mano also had the privilege of serving on the National AFL-CIO's 
Executive Council. Upon his retirement from the Alaska AFL-CIO, and in 
recognition of all the years of hard work and dedication to the working 
men and women everywhere, the organization named him President 
Emeritus.
  In 2003 Mano became a Vice President and Regional Manager for the 
Laborers International Union of North America. He served this 
organization and its members with honor. He demonstrated on numerous 
occasions that he not only cared about how all of the Local unions 
under his jurisdiction fared, but that the most important mission was 
the welfare and quality of life of the members and their families.
  On behalf of all the working men and women of Alaska and beyond, 
whose lives you enriched and livelihood you protected, I thank and wish 
you a happy retirement as you transition into your next chapter in 
life.

                          ____________________