The formidable Retail, Wholesale and Division Retailer Union is headed by Stuart Appelbaum.
Larry Marano for NY Put up
The highly effective retail staff union headed by Amazon killer Stuart Appelbaum spent $1.9 million shopping for a luxurious midtown rental that sits unoccupied.
A subsidiary of the Retail, Wholesale and Division Retailer Union plunked down the money for the two-bedroom rental at 325 Fifth Ave. in 2017, metropolis information present.
The 41-story constructing at thirty second Avenue features a swimming pool, spa and screening room.
The acquisition was made by the RWDSU Realty Corp., with none oversight from the union’s government board, in response to Ted Hunt, who heads a union native in Michigan and is in search of to oust Appelbaum as president.
“One way or the other spending union cash on a lavish way of life whereas we're dropping members is in some way acceptable and condoned by the prevailing management. I'm certain that our membership would discover this lavish spending morally corrupt,” Hunt says on his SaveThe RWDSU web site.
He advised The Put up that the board solely accepted the acquisition after a former union official, Allen Mayne, alerted the federal Division of Labor, which opened a probe.
Mayne, who had been director of collective bargaining, advised The Put up he was illegally terminated from the union after which reached a settlement settlement with it.
Appelbaum, in an April 2022 memo, mentioned a “disgruntled former worker” made “baseless allegations” in regards to the union’s operations that had been investigated by the DOL. He mentioned the company discovered no wrongdoing and closed the case.
As proof, he enclosed a letter from the Cozen O’Connor legislation agency, which the union employed, saying the matter was closed.
“The Division of Labor has not offered any documentation saying they had been cleared of something,” Hunt disputed.
A Labor Division spokesman didn't return a request for remark from The Put up.
The union mentioned the rental was bought with proceeds from the sale of one other property and was thought of an funding.
“The RWDSU has an extended and profitable historical past of rising union funds by well investing in actual property via the RWDSU Realty Corp,” Appelbaum mentioned in a press release to The Put up. “This association put the union in its finest monetary form ever and can allow the union to fund organizing efforts for years to return.”
A union spokeswoman mentioned the condominium was utilized by out-of-town union officers and employees after they come to New York for enterprise and had resulted in “important financial savings” in lodge and meal prices.
The union’s expense for the condominium in yearly property taxes alone are $34,385, metropolis information present.
Appelbaum, 69, a member of the Democratic Nationwide Committee, has headed the 50,000-member union since 1998.
He was thought of instrumental in killing Amazon’s plan to open a second headquarters in Lengthy Island Metropolis that might have created 25,000 jobs. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s workplace blasted the RWDSU after the deal fell via in 2019, despite the fact that Appelbaum was one in every of Cuomo’s greatest supporters.
Hunt, 45, who works at a Put up Meals plant in Battle Creek, Mich., mentioned he wished to deliver extra accountability to the union.
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