[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 65 (Monday, May 23, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    TRIBUTE TO MRS. BETTY L. TIANTI

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today before you to honor Mrs. 
Betty L. Tianti, the Nation's first female president of a State labor 
federation and Connecticut's first labor commissioner. Mrs. Tianti died 
on May 16, 1994.
  After attending the University of Connecticut and the University of 
Massachusetts, Mrs. Tianti began her career at the American Thread Co. 
factory in Willimantic in 1956 and became president of her local union. 
From 1962 to 1970, she served as an organizer for the union, both in 
New England and in the South, as well as assistant director of the 
Textile Worker Union's Committee on Political Education, otherwise 
known as COPE.
  From 1970 to 1974, Mrs. Tianti served as an assistant agent for the 
Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations. She then became director of 
the Connecticut State AFL-CIO's COPE. In 1979, she bcame the 
federation's secretary-treasurer until 1985.
  In 1985, Mrs. Tianti was elected as president of the Connecticut 
State AFL-CIO and served until 1988 when Governor William A. O'Neill 
named her as Connecticut's labor commissioner.
  Mrs. Betty Tianti has made a significant contribution to the State of 
Connecticut and to the labor movement. Her dedicated service should be 
commemorated and appreciated on the sad occasion of her death. I salute 
Mrs. Tianti as a pioneer and a courageous leader.

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