Teamster Salaries Compared to Other Unions

Posted on March 28, 2024

In the 1980s, a number of Teamster officials had the highest salaries in the labor movement. Their bloated pay and corruption hurt all unions. After years of Teamster members organizing for reform and accountability, top Teamster officers now make less than officials of most other unions.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Comparing the presidents’ salaries of the ten largest US unions, the Teamsters rank near the low end, with only the United Auto Workers (UAW) paying a bit less. With new leadership and the recent strike victories, the UAW seems like good company for Teamsters.

Some unions pay their top officers $400,000 to $700,000 a year.

Many smaller unions also pay higher salaries. For example, the ILA, the East Coast longshore union, has 42,000 members, and paid $638,549 to their president in 2022.

What about Teamster Local Officers?

International Union officers’ salaries are limited by the IBT Constitution. They cannot make more than the General President.

But the salaries of Local Officers who are not International officers or representatives are not covered by that limit. They are set by local unions, in accordance with their local bylaws.

Only very few make higher salaries from their locals. Terry Hancock had the highest Teamster salary a year earlier, when he made $415,163 in 2022. But in April 2023, Local 731 was placed in trusteeship for misspending members’ dues money on liquor, designer handbags, pedicures and other improper expenses.

Hancock lost his Local 731 position and also his position as president of Illinois Joint Council 25. Hancock was a candidate for IBT VP on the Vairma-Herrera slate in 2021.

Teamster Salary Report

TDU is compiling a nonpartisan listing of the highest Teamster officer salaries and will make it available online soon.