Steve Nutter is a retired attorney in workers’ rights and served in various positions with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) and UNITE, now Workers United-SEIU, from 1980-1999. He was born in Long Beach, California and grew up in the Westchester community of Los Angeles. Nutter studied at the University of Ghana in 1969-1970, completed his undergraduate degree at University of California Santa Barbara, and finished law school at University of California Law, San Francisco (UCL-SF).

While in law school at UCL-SF, Nutter began his involvement in the labor movement as a volunteer boycott organizer with United Farmer Workers (UFW). After graduating from law school, he became a Law Clerk to the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California from 1975-1977. Following his work as a judicial law clerk, he became a Staff Attorney for the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board and California School Employees Association (CSEA).

Nutter served with the ILGWU first as Regional Counsel for the Western States Region (WSR) of the ILGWU from 1980 to 1985. In 1985, Nutter was appointed Assistant Regional Director by WSR Regional Director Cornelius Wall. In 1986, Nutter was appointed Regional Director by the newly elected ILGWU President Jay Mazur. By the next convention, he was elected to the ILGWU General Executive Board at age 37. Nutter’s organizational work within the union was significant in the ILGWU’s regional restructuring and the ILGWU merger with ACTWU (Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union) in 1995 to form UNITE. He also served on the board of the U.S. Guatemala Labor Education Project.

From 1999-2005, Nutter worked first as Bargaining Director for SEIU Local 399 and later as Legal Counsel for the SEIU's Healthcare Action Project, which organized in whole or in part scores of acute care hospitals statewide. From 2005-2010 he served as counsel for Reich, Adell, and Cvitan. From 2010 to 2013, Nutter worked as Los Angeles City Public Works Commissioner and as Senior Advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Steve Nutter collection primarily reflects his 1990s work in garment workers’ rights. This time period is notable in the ILGWU’s restructuring regionally, UNITE-ILGWU/ACTWU merger, Guess? Inc. campaign, and Sweatshop Watch’s development from a legal clinic to the Garment Worker Center. Legislative materials for joint liability in the garment supply chain draw from the union’s contractual language. Case files include civil cases (Bureerong v. Uvawas sensationalized as the El Monte Thai garment slavery case, Guess? Inc. campaign demonstration arrests), National Labor Relations Board petitions, and research conducted with the Department of Labor. Multimedia materials (audiovisual, worker education, union publications) depict the voices of workers directly. Additional materials reflect his work with the City of Los Angeles, in legal cases for other unions (SEIU, AIWU), and labor memorabilia.