Clara Fraser employer Seattle City Light
Seattle City Light Career and Discrimination Lawsuits
After being fired by Boeing and blacklisted as a communist by the FBI, Fraser struggled to find stable employment. Fraser took a job as a receptionist in a psychologist's office, where her communist affiliations were accepted, and worked there for seven years. Fraser was then hired as a job coordinator for a federal anti-poverty program, where she worked until she was recruited by Seattle City Light.
In 1973, Fraser began work at Seattle City Light as a training and education coordinator. Fraser was charged with designing and implementing an all-female Electrical Trades Trainee (ETT) affirmative action program to integrate women into the trades. Fraser's hiring and the creation of an all-female ETT program was a calculated political move by Gordon Vickery, the superintendent of City Light at the time. Vickery, the former chief of the Seattle Fire Department, had been exploring the possibility of running for mayor. He was appointed to the superintendent position by Seattle mayor Wes Uhlman in an attempt to forge an alliance and prevent a future electoral challenge. In his role, Vickery was tasked with reducing City Light's budget through work speed-ups and wage cuts. Vickery and Uhlman chose to hire Fraser, a known radical, to implement a successful program for a few women in the hopes of avoiding discrimination lawsuits like the ones filed against the city by Black workers in the late 1960s. In addition, Vickery hoped to make a successful ETT program for women a cornerstone of his experience in future electoral campaigns.
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