Assistant Foreman Bill Pittman is relatively new to Foss, but not to the shipyard itself.
“I worked for an outside vendor out of the yard here at Foss for 10 years, and I decided to make the switch and come to work here,” mainly, he said, because the company’s benefit and retirement packages are hard to beat. “I made the transition here a year-and-a-half ago. It’s been pretty easy.”
Bill Pittman worked for Everett Hydraulics, and has long specialized in hydraulic work – or “fluid power.”
“I worked mostly on boats and fuel barges,” he explained. “Like I said, it was a pretty easy switch to come work for Foss.”
Not long after Pittman started, he brought his son, Josh, into the mix.
“We needed people,” Bill said, “and it just kind of worked out. The help we usually get are all journeyman. It’s hard to justify paying that much just to have someone to clean up the shop. I kind of figured as I got here that I’d find a place for (Josh).”
As a helper, cleaning up the shop is now Josh’s specialty, though his background is diverse.
“I got a job working at Cabela’s,” he said. “When I left there, I started laying pipe for small housing developments. But it got slow, and since I wasn’t an operator, they didn’t really need me. I left there and did concrete work for about two weeks.”
Bill lives up north, in Marysville, and the two carpool.
“Working with (my dad) is fun,” Josh said. “He oversees everything. Some days I see him more than others.”
Bill said he’s looking forward to the busy winter months when all the fishing trawlers are on down-time. He and Josh just returned from a deer-hunting trip. The pair ride dirt bikes, go four-wheeling – anything to get outside.
“At work, we’re busy,” Bill said. “Most days I just see him in passing. Working in the shipyard is a good opportunity for him.”
