SAG-AFTRA President Duncan Crabtree-Ireland earned $1.02 million last year, making him the ninth highest-paid union official in the United States, according to U.S. Department of Labor records.
Professional athletes’ unions pay the highest employee salaries, led by the NFL Players Association, which paid its former executive director DeMaurice Smith $8.2 million last year.
Six of the eight highest-paid union officials work for the baseball, basketball and football unions. The other two were union leaders who received unusually high severance packages when they retired.
The country’s most prominent union leaders — those who lead the largest unions — earn substantially less. Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, earned $475,000 last year. Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, earned $277,000. Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, earned $250,000, and Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, earned $198,000.
The salaries of union officials depend to a large extent on the salaries of members. Professional sportsmen are the highest paid union members in the country. Actors – some of them – are also paid quite well, although most of Crabtree-Ireland’s 160,000 members earn relatively little from acting.
Crabtree-Ireland’s pay rose 6.5% year-on-year while he led the union through a historic 118-day strike.
His deputy executive director, Mathis Dunn, also earned $1 million last year — far more than his usual $400,000 salary — by cashing out unused vacation days after his retirement. SAG-AFTRA disclosed his spending in its July 29 LM-2 filing.
The other high-ranking unions in Hollywood also pay their executives good salaries compared to labor standards.
David Young, the former executive director of the Writers Guild of America West, took a vacation last year just before the negotiations that led to the WGA strike. During his vacation, which occurred in the final year of his contract, he earned $860,000, making him the 16th highest-paid union official in the country.
His successor, Ellen Stutzman, earned $680,000 last year, about double her salary as deputy general manager, according to the union’s most recent financial filings.
Russell Hollander, national executive director of the Directors Guild of America, earned $775,000.
Members of below-the-line unions receive lower salaries, and union employees earn more modest amounts in return.
Matthew Loeb, international president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, earned $550,000 last year. Lindsay Dougherty, treasurer of the Hollywood branch of the Teamsters, earned $240,000.
Union salaries pale in comparison to those of CEOs of major media companies, who collect tens of millions of dollars in salaries, bonuses, options and other perks.
They are also only a fraction of the salary of Carol Lombardini, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, who sits across from union leaders during negotiations.
Her salary in fiscal year 2023, the last year available, was $3.3 million.
