Newly Merged Actors Union Hikes Exec Director's Pay On Top of Growing Debt

Even as the newly merged SAG-AFTRA actors union grew its debt by millions, Executive Director David White’s pay has been raised 15 percent to $541,000 annually.

A recent 448-page financial report confirms the hike in White’s pay but also reports that the union’s debt rose by nearly a third year-to-year.

At the end of fiscal 2012–which ended April 30–the union’s debt rose from $100.48 million to $132.26 million. The report, DeadlineHollywood.com notes, offered no breakdown as to why the debt increased.

“The increase in these funds is primarily due to more and larger producer’s deposits received over the last fiscal year,” said a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson on August 8.

All this occurs at the same time that former SAG president Ed Asner is suing the union for $110 million over a claimed failure to pay foreign residuals. The union insists that the lawsuit should be dismissed because many of its complaints are already being addressed.