William T. Brownson started his career as a labor relations specialist and union negotiator at the Jackson Concrete Pipe Company in Jackson, Michigan (ca. 1949), where he handled contract negotiations on behalf of management. Around 1953, the company was bought out by the American Marietta Company and was renamed the Lamar Pipe and Tile Company. However, Brownson retained his position and continued as the official liaison between the new company and the Teamsters Union.
In the early days of unionization within the concrete pipe industry, Brownson quickly moved up the ranks, becoming more influential as the years passed. He was chairman of the Labor Negotiation Committee and later, secretary of the Concrete Pipe Association (a consortium of companies).
During this period of wage, benefit, and rule standardization, Brownson's activities as labor specialist were very much intertwined with that of top union officials, high-level management in the concrete pipe industry, and attorneys. Thus, his papers cannot be separated from those of the other key players in the constant give-and-take of contract negotiation.
The other major activity Brownson was involved in was as chairman of an Ann Arbor citizens' rights group called the New Southeast Property Owners Committee (hereafter referred to as "NSPOC"), formed in 1957. The group was opposed to the commercial development of the area between Stadium Boulevard and Winchell Drive in Ann Arbor. The NSPOC believed that the City Council had taken improper action when it rezoned the area from residential to commercial and lobbied heavily to get it changed to prevent the developer who bought the land from ever building his proposed shopping center. Brownson and the NSPOC's main concern was with the changing character of a residential neighborhood, with increased traffic posing a threat to the safety of the residents' children. Ultimately, however, they were unsuccessful in their opposition to commercial development in their neighborhood.
From the guide to the William T. Brownson papers, 1949-1975, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
