union salaries revisited

[Doug Henwood]

[The other day I posted some material on union presidents' salaries, 
provided by Michael Eisenscher. Michael has expanded the list to 
include Sweeney, as well as the average earnings of the occupations 
typically represented by each union. I took those numbers and 
computed a "bloat factor" - total salary and compensation for the 
bosses divided by the average workers' salaries. Where multiple 
occupations were given, I used the highest earnings to compute the 
bloat factor, in order to appear reasonable and conservative. The 
first panel of the table includes salaries and is sorted by bloat 
factor; the second panel shows the occupations and earnings used to 
compute the bloat factor.]

AFL-CIO Salaries and Benefits/Allowences for 1998

                                                   compen-  bloat
union/president                 salary  benefits  sation  factor

LIUNA, Arthur A. Coia           335,674   86,120  421,794   15.5
HERE, John Wilhelm              280,793   30,700  311,493   15.0
BSOIW, Jake West                196,390  184,750  381,140   11.6
UFCW, Douglas H. Dority         264,152   58,167  322,319   10.6
AFSCME, Gerald McEntee          352,404   16,800  369,204   10.0
AFT, Sandra Feldman             246,563   94,932  341,495    9.5
UNITE, Jay Mazur                196,462   54,796  251,258    9.5
NEA, Robert F. Chase            196,427   94,049  290,476    8.1
UBC, Douglas J. McCarron        194,250   28,700  222,950    7.8
IUOE, Frank Hanley              231,237   15,600  246,837    7.4
SEIU, Andrew Stern              215,218    7,800  223,018    6.1
AFL-CIO, John J. Sweeney        199,750    7,250  207,000    5.8
IBEW, J.J. Barry                198,533           198,533    5.5
IAM, R.T. Buffenbarger          142,801   57,871  200,672    5.2
UWSA, George F. Becker          131,499   22,432  153,931    4.3
CWA, Morton Bahr                152,762    9,556  162,318    3.9
ALPA, Randolph Babbitt          314,995   34,000  348,995    3.8
AFGE, Bobby L. Harnage          122,746   15,109  137,855    3.7
UAW, Stephen P. Yokich          112,608    6,900  119,508    3.1
UMW, Cecil Roberts               96,224    3,960  100,184    2.5

_____________________________________________________________

earnings & occupations used to compute bloat factor; where multiple 
earnings are listed, the highest was used

AFSCME, Gerald McEntee          37,076 all public, including fedl.

LIUNA, Arthur A. Coia           27,196 misc. construction trades

ALPA, Randolph Babbitt          92,768 pilots & navigators

HERE, John Wilhelm              20,800 hotel/motel

                                 14,872 eating places

UFCW, Douglas H. Dority         30,420 wholesale food

                                 17,576 grocery stores

AFT, Sandra Feldman             35,805 K-12 teachers

IUOE, Frank Hanley              33,200 heavy equipment operators

SEIU, Andrew Stern              36,608 registered nurses

                                 33,072 all hospital workers

                                 21,996 residential care

                                 20,852 all social services

                                 16,016 janitors

AFL-CIO, John J. Sweeney        35,932 all union members

                                 30,004 all workers

IBEW, J.J. Barry                36,296 electricians

UNITE, Jay Mazur                26,364 misc. textile mills

                                 25,428 finished textiles

                                 21,840 apparel

NEA, Robert F. Chase            35,805 K-12 teachers

BSOIW, Jake West                32,916 structural metal workers

UBC, Douglas J. McCarron        28,496 carpenters

CWA, Morton Bahr                41,392 telecom workers

IAM, R.T. Buffenbarger          38,749 air transport

                                 27,976 auto mechanics

                                 47,802 aircraft mechanics

UWSA, George F. Becker          36,083 iron & steel blast furnace & forges

AFGE, Bobby L. Harnage          37,076 all public workers

UAW, Stephen P. Yokich          38,636 motor vehicles & equipt.

UMW, Cecil Roberts              40,196 coal mining

* worker incomes were computed by multiplying average weekly earnings X 52;
where several occupations were combined (i.e., teachers), weighted 
averages were computed; in most cases, occupations and in all cases 
industry figures include management and supervisors, and unless 
specified (Sweeney), include both represented and unrepresented 
employees.

Source of worker earnings: Union Membership and Earnings Data Book, 
Bureau of National Affairs, 1999.