William Zeman, Labor Lawyer, Dies (played a lead role in introducing the CIO to Connecticut)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-zeman0105.artjan05,0,1382033.story

No lawyer jokes please. It took a union lawyer to win my job back for me in 07. I also won my job back in 84 thanks to pro labor lawyers.


By TANVEER ALI | Courant Staff Writer
January 5, 2008

William Zeman, a longtime labor lawyer who played a lead role in introducing the Congress of Industrial Organizations to Connecticut, died last week at his home in West Hartford. He was 93.

Even before being admitted to the state bar in July 1941, the Hartford native had put in time with the labor movement as a lobbyist for the young Connecticut State CIO Council.

After obtaining his law degree from the University of Connecticut, he was hired as general counsel and manager of the local chapter of the United Electrical Workers Union, CIO, representing employees at 18 metal trades plants in the Hartford area.

"I believed it would raise the level of living for factory and white-collar workers," Zeman said in a 1996 Courant article. "They could educate their children, become homeowners and have a stake in the American system."


FULL story at link.