Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of SAG-AFTRA. In this capacity, he oversees the world’s most influential union of actors and media artists, representing over 160,000 members worldwide who work in film, television, broadcast news, commercials, music, radio, video games, and more.
Crabtree-Ireland has played a critical role in SAG-AFTRA’s signature achievements over the past two decades. He was a key leader of the successful merger between SAG and AFTRA in 2012, was the principal architect of SAG-AFTRA’s landmark pandemic safety response and return-to-work initiatives, and led the union’s historic 2023 TV/Theatrical Contract negotiations and strike. Crabtree-Ireland is a strategic and creative chief negotiator who has personally led or overseen contract negotiations for SAG-AFTRA’s Television/Film/Streaming, Video Games, Commercials, Music, Network Television, and Telemundo Spanish-language contracts, among others.
Crabtree-Ireland also leads the union’s technology and innovation team, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and its impact on SAG-AFTRA members and the media and entertainment industry generally, and has presented on A.I. and worker topics in forums as varied as CES, the International Labor Organization, the World Economic Forum, the Council of Institutional Investors, and the U.S. Senate, among many others. He is a dedicated advocate for equity and inclusion in the entertainment industry and was honored with the AFL-CIO’s “At the River I Stand” award for his work in the intersection of labor and civil rights, as well as being named one of Out magazine’s 100 most influential LGBTQ+ individuals in 2023. He hosts SAG-AFTRA’s biweekly video streaming series, leading more than 100 episodes, and is the co-host of the SAG-AFTRA Podcast and the SAG-AFTRA Podcast en Español. He previously served as SAG-AFTRA’s longtime Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel.