SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has been named as an Out100 Disruptor by Out magazine.
Citing his leadership during the strike, Out stated, “As one of the few out leaders of a major entertainment group, Crabtree-Ireland knows that the fight for labor and LGBTQ+ equality go hand in hand.” The Out100 highlights the year’s most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people in six categories: Artists, Disruptors, Educators, Groundbreakers, Innovators and Storytellers.
Along with SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, Crabtree-Ireland was the face and spokesperson for the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical/Streaming strike — the largest strike in the United States in 26 years, and the first joint strike by the actors union and the Writers Guild since 1960. When he’s not in negotiations or working internally with members and staff to develop contract proposals and counterproposals, he was on the picket lines with members.
As chief negotiator, Crabtree-Ireland directs efforts to make lasting improvements to how SAG-AFTRA members are treated in the industry and has led or overseen negotiations for some of SAG-AFTRA’s most important contracts. He is also focused on SAG-AFTRA’s engagement with new technology and innovation, which has positioned the union well as it combats the threat of AI to entertainers’ livelihoods.
A longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and a past co-president of the LGBTQ+ Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, Crabtree-Ireland helped shape the union’s efforts to promote its LGBTQ+ membership and co-founded the union’s first LGBTQ+ member committee in 2005, as well as helping to create SAG-AFTRA’s Out and Proud Alliance employee affinity group. He has also taken that advocacy global as the co-founder and co-convenor of the International Federation of Actors’ LGBTQ+ Working Group, including leading the first-ever global survey on employment discrimination and workplace harassment against
LGBTQ+ performers.
This item was originally featured in the SAG-AFTRA fall/winter 2023 magazine issue.