title: International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees
text: # 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 clerical workers. The union was sometimes known as the International Federation of Employees, Technicians and Managers, or informally as the International Federation of White Collar Workers' Unions.
  
  ## History
  
  The first attempt to create an international federation of clerical workers was the International Commercial Employees' Secretariat, founded in Hamburg in 1909, and led by Edo Fimmen. It collapsed at the start of World War I. FIET was founded in 1921, in Vienna, as its replacement.
  
  Initially representing only European unions, after World War II the federation began admitting unions from around the world. The large majority of workers represented worked in banking, insurance, or as clerical staff in commerce and social services. In 1984, the International Secretariat of Entertainment Trade Unions became an autonomous section of the FIET.
  
  By 1994, membership of FIET had reached 11 million. At the end of 1999, it merged with the Communications International, the International Graphical Federation, and the Media and Entertainment International, to form Union Network International.
  
  ## Leadership
  
  ### General Secretaries
  
      1904: Max Josephson
      1910: Edo Fimmen
      1921: Gerrit Smit
      1934: Willem Spiekman
      1958: Erich Kissel
      1973: Heribert Maier
      1989: Philip Jennings
  
  ### Presidents
  
      1921: Otto Urban
      1933: Joseph Hallsworth
      1947: Oreste Capocci
      1949: James Young
      1955: Friedrich Hillegeist
      1960: Algot Jonsson
      1962: Joe Hiscock
      1964: James Suffridge
      1970: Alfred Allen
      1976: Günter Stephan
      1983: Tom Whaley
      1987: Bengt Lloyd
      1991: Jochen Richert
      1994: Gary Nebeker
      1999: Maj-Len Remahl
  