SAG-AFTRA Chief’s Pay Tops $1 Million, Highest Among Hollywood Unions

SAG-AFTRA leader Duncan Crabtree-Ireland earned $1.02 million last year, making him the ninth highest paid union official in the U.S., according to filings with the Department of Labor.

The professional athletes unions pay the highest salaries in labor, led by the NFL Players Association, which paid $8.2 million last year to its former executive director DeMaurice Smith.

Six of the eight highest-earning labor officials work for the baseball, basketball and football unions. The other two were union leaders who received unusually large payouts upon retirement.

The most recognizable labor leaders in the country — the ones who lead the largest unions — make substantially less. Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, made $475,000 last year. Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, made $277,000. Sean O’Brien, the general president of the Teamsters, made $250,000, and Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers, made $198,000.

To a large extent, the salaries of labor officials are a function of the salaries of the membership. Professional athletes are the highest paid unionized workforce in the country. Actors — some of them — are also quite well compensated, though most of Crabtree-Ireland’s 160,000 members make relatively little from acting.

Crabtree-Ireland’s pay rose 6.5% over the previous year, as he led the union through a historic 118-day strike.

His associate executive director, Mathis Dunn, also cracked $1 million last year — well above his typical salary of $400,000 — as he took a payout of unused vacation time upon retirement. SAG-AFTRA revealed its expenses in its LM-2 filing on July 29.

The other above-the-line Hollywood unions also pay their leaders well, by labor standards.

David Young, the former executive director of the Writers Guild of America West, took a leave of absence last year just before negotiations that led to the WGA strike. He earned $860,000 while on leave, representing the final year of his contract, and making him the nation’s 16th-highest-paid union official.

His replacement, Ellen Stutzman, earned $680,000 last year, according to the guild’s most recent financial filing, roughly double what she was earning as assistant executive director.

Russell Hollander, the national executive director of the Directors Guild of America, earned $775,000.

Members of the below-the-line unions earn lower salaries, and in turn the union staffs earn more modest sums.

Matthew Loeb, the international president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, took in $550,000 last year. Lindsay Dougherty, the secretary-treasurer of the Hollywood branch of the Teamsters, earned $240,000.

The union salaries pale by comparison to those of the big media CEOs, who make tens of millions of dollars in salaries, bonuses, options and other perks.

They are also just a fraction of the salary earned by Carol Lombardini, the president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, who sits across from the labor leaders during negotiations.

Her salary was $3.3 million in fiscal 2023, the most recent year available.