GGA Vice Chairman

Stuart Appelbaum

President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union

Stuart Appelbaum became President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union on May 1, 1998. He was reelected in 2002, 2006, and 2010. Appelbaum previously served as International Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, Executive Board Member, Assistant to the President and Coordinator of Special Projects for the union.

Appelbaum is also an International Vice President and member of the Executive Board of the 1.4 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

He serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store International Union and Industry Benefit Funds.

Appelbaum is the President of the Jewish Labor Committee.

He is an officer of two global union federations: IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations) and UNI (Union Network International). He is a Vice President of the Consortium for Worker Education.

Prior to the disaffiliation of the UFCW from the AFL-CIO, Appelbaum served as a Vice President of the national AFL-CIO and a member of the federation’s Executive Council from 1998 until 2005. He also currently serves as a vice president of the New York State AFL-CIO and the New York City Central Labor Council.

Appelbaum previously served as Chief House Counsel of the Democratic National Committee. He also previously worked for the Michigan State AFL-CIO, and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary of the State of Connecticut. Appelbaum was elected a delegate to the 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 Democratic National Conventions and an alternate delegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention. In 2008, he served as a member of the Electoral College as an Obama elector from New York.

Appelbaum is a summa cum laude graduate of Brandeis University, where he was named a Louis Dembitz Brandeis Scholar and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. He is a member of the bar of the State of Connecticut. Appelbaum resides in New York City.