Gary Raleigh Nebeker (September 12, 1942 – November 18, 2020) was an American trade union leader. Born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, Nebeker began working full-time for the

Retail Clerks International Union The Retail Clerks International Union (RCIU) was a labor union that represented retail employees. History The RCIU was chartered as the "Retail Clerks National Protective Union" in 1890 by the American Federation of Labor. It later adopted the n ...

in the 1960s. In the late 1970s, he became assistant director of the union's international affairs department, then was appointed as director in 1984 of what had become the

United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...

. In the role, he traveled worldwide, building direct links with unions. He was eventually promoted to become international vice president of the union. Nebeker was also a leading figure in the commerce trade section of the

International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees The International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET; french: Fédération internationale des employés, techniciens et cadres) was a global union federation bringing together workers representing cleri ...

(FIET). In 1991, he was elected as vice president of FIET, then in 1995 as president. He took a leading role in negotiations to merge FIET with other global unions, which ultimately led to the formation of

Union Network International UNI Global Union, formerly Union Network International (UNI), is a global union federation for the skills and services sectors, gathering national and regional trade union. It has affiliated unions in 150 countries representing 20 million workers ...

(UNI). He also oversaw the construction of new headquarters for FIET, in

Nyon Nyon (; outdated German language, German: or ; outdated Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilomet ...

. He stood down as president in 1999, shortly before the UNI was established, but remained on its executive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nebeker, Gary 1942 births 2020 deaths American trade union leaders People from Berkeley, California Trade unionists from California United Food and Commercial Workers people