Gotbaum, Victor H (1921– )

US labour leader. In 1955 he became assistant education director of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters in Chicago, the first of several union jobs that took him to several cities. He returned to New York City to organize the hospital workers. By 1965 he had become head of District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which he built into the largest municipal employees union in the USA, while gaining a reputation as both a forceful yet responsible advocate for his union's members. He retired from that position in 1986 and went on to teach, research, and consult on labour-management policies and related social issues at the City University of New York. In 1993 he was selected by Mayor David Dinkins to serve on New York City's Board of Education.

Gotbaum was born in New York City. He became involved in union activities while working as a teenager, and by age 19 was working as a pressman in a printing shop owned by an uncle. He was drafted into the US Army and served in World War II. After the war he attended Brooklyn College, gaining his BA in 1948. He then studied for an MA at the School of International Affairs at Columbia University, graduating in 1950. He briefly taught government studies at Brooklyn College, then became a foreign affairs officer with the State Department for a few years before working for the US Department of Agriculture. Gotbaum's wife is Betsy Brearley, who served as commissioner of parks and recreation for New York City.