SAG Chief Didn’t Get 59% Raise in 2003

The Screen Actors Guild said Tuesday that the 2002 salary it reported to the federal government for its chief executive was for a partial year, leading to a misleading picture of a large raise in 2003.

The union, on its financial disclosure form filed with the Labor Department, reported that A. Robert Pisano earned a gross salary of $425,426 in its 2003 financial year. That was a 59% raise from the $267,461 base salary the union reported for its 2002 financial year.

A compilation of union leaders’ salaries by Political Money Line, the nonpartisan service that tracks campaign spending, found that Pisano got the largest raise among leaders of 140 unions that had filed their 2003 reports with the government.

Guild spokesman Seth Oster said Pisano got a 2.3% cost-of-living raise in 2003, and the 2002 salary reported was not for the whole year because he was not in office the entire time.

Oster also said the 78,698 members the guild reported to the government for 2003 was incorrect. He said the guild has 120,000 members, but he did not know if an amended report correcting that figure would be filed.

Hollywood union leaders topped the list of biggest labor salaries, with Pisano ranking second among the heads of 140 unions that had filed 2003 reports. About 20 unions had not filed, Political Money Line said.

John McLean, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, West, topped the list with a base salary of $445,461. A 2003 report for the Directors Guild of America was not available on the Labor Department’s website. The union said it paid Executive Director Jay Roth a base salary of $527,444 for its 2002 financial year.