Heribert Maier (7 February 1932 – 6 November 2007) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

trade union leader. Born in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Maier studied at the local gymnasium and then the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, from which he obtained a doctorate in economics. Maier began working for the

Austrian Trade Union Federation The Austrian Trade Union Federation or Austrian Federation of Trade Unions ( de: ''Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund'', abbreviated OeGB or ÖGB) is a labour union of employees. It is constituted as an association and is subdivided into seven ...

in 1955, then in 1958 moved to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

to work for the

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 whe ...

(ICFTU). In 1972, he was appointed as assistant general secretary of the ICFTU, but he left the following year to become general secretary of the

International Federation of Commercial, Clerical and Technical Employees The International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET; ) was a global union federation bringing together workers representing clerical workers. The union was sometimes known as the International Federat ...

(FIET). As leader of FIET, Maier focused on recruiting unions and supporting workers' struggles in Latin America, Asia and Africa. He became a worker representative at the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

(ILO), jointly drafting its Tripartite Declaration on Multinationals in 1977, and championing the Health and Safety in Mines Convention. In 1989, Maier left FIET to become deputy director-general of the ILO. He retired in 1996, and was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver with Star by the Austrian government. In retirement, he served on the

Education International Education International (EI) is a global union federation (GUF) of teachers' trade unions consisting of 383 member organizations in 178 countries and territories that represents over 32 million education teachers and education support personnel fr ...

's Committee of Experts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maier, Heribert 1932 births 2007 deaths Austrian trade union leaders People from Graz Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria University of Vienna alumni