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Person

Al Vincent, Jr.

Nationality:

American
Occupation:

Executive Director, Actors’ Equity Association
Actors Equity Compensation (2024):

$471,550 18

References

  1. “Actors Equity Association IRS Form 990 for 2024.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, February 17, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/130413995/202510499349301436/full.

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Al Vincent, Jr. is a labor union executive and Democratic political operative who as of 2025 was the executive director of Actors’ Equity Association, the trade union for actors and stage managers working in live theatrical performance venues that is sometimes referred to as “Equity.”  1 He was previously an executive at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), where his roles included leading UFCW-aligned political action committees (PACs) in the mid-Atlantic region.  2  3

Under Vincent’s leadership, the union threatened a strike in October 2025 against New York City’s Broadway theaters that would have closed 32 stage productions during the city’s peak theater-attendance season. 4

Background

Al Vincent, Jr. is a labor union executive and Democratic political operative who as of 2025 was the executive director of Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union for theatrical stage performers and managers that is referred to simply as “Equity” within the theater industry.  5

Equity holds more than 40 active national and regional contracts covering more than 51,000 live theater workers in performance venues across the country. 1 But while Equity works nationwide, its power is concentrated most heavily in New York City, thanks to the economic and cultural importance of the Broadway theater district. In 2025, Vincent was named one of New York’s “Labor Power Players” by Politics NY, and one of the state’s “Labor Power 100” by City & State New York. 5  6

Before becoming Equity’s executive director in 2022, Vincent spent more than three decades in a variety of roles at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), rising to international vice president and director of the mid-Atlantic region for the UFCW. 2  1 In that role, he functioned as the interim president of UFCW Alabama in 2010 and of UFCW North Carolina from 2015 to 2016.  2

Equity has become more politically active under Vincent, endorsing candidates and creating its first political action committee. 7 The union broke its century-long practice of not endorsing candidates in 2016 when it supported the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. In 2022, the union took sides in the Los Angeles mayoral race on behalf of Karen Bass (D), and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden (D) for president in 2020 and Vice President Kamala Harris (D) for President in 2024. 8  9 In his statement announcing Equity’s Harris endorsement, Vincent added that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) was “the best vice presidential pick we could have hoped for.”  9

2025 Broadway Strike Threat

In September 2025, the contract between Actors’ Equity and the Broadway League expired, and union members voted to authorize a strike. 10 The union’s primary bargaining issues were pay increases, including an increase in the $2,638 weekly minimum salary for an actor, as well as increased contributions from producers toward the union’s health insurance plan.  11 Producers, however, pointed to post-COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in the theater industry and rising theater rents and other costs as limiting their ability to meet the union’s demands. 11

The Broadway League and Equity reached an agreement on October 18, 2025, after a federal mediator led a negotiating session that lasted more than 24 hours. 12

Under Vincent, Equity had previously threatened a strike against the Broadway League’s touring productions in 2023. 13

Political Action Committee (PAC) Work

Vincent has been involved in multiple union-aligned political action committees (PACs) over the course of his career. From 2006 to 2013, Vincent was president of the Mid-Atlantic Political Action Committee (MAPAC), a nominally bipartisan PAC operating in state and local races in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia and Florida. 2 MAPAC was heavily funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), and was generally considered to be promoting its interests. 14

In February 2012, a Washington Business Journal investigation into the PACs’ influence in District of Columbia elections found that MAPAC had the second-largest balance of any labor union-associated PAC in the District, at $53,150. 15

In 2013, the MAPAC board shut down MAPAC and created EmpowerPAC, with Vincent as its chairman. 3

Before its website went offline in late 2024, EmpowerPAC listed its campaigns as “Workers’ Rights, Marriage Equality, Privatization, Voting Rights, Immigration Reform, and Fracking.” 16 The two EmpowerPAC-supported candidates referenced by name on Vincent’s LinkedIn profile, were former South Carolina state Senator Marlon Kimpson (D-Charleston) and Pennsylvania state Senator Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia).  2

In April 2024, Vincent founded the Actors’ Equity PAC. 7 In the 2024 election cycle, the PAC raised $125,722 and spent $65,742, with 81.6 percent of that spending supporting Democratic candidates and 18.4 percent supporting Republicans. 17

References

  1. Harms, Talaura. “Alvin Vincent, Jr. Named New Executive Director at Actors’ Equity.” Playbill, January 4, 2022. https://playbill.com/article/alvin-vincent-jr-named-new-executive-director-at-actors-equity.
  2. Vincent, Al. “LinkedIn Profile for Al Vincent, Jr.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/avincentjr/.
  3. “About.” EmpowerPAC, February 28, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240228092236/http://www.empowerpac.org/about/.
  4. Chmielewski, Dawn, and Chandni Shah. “Agreement Reached to Avert Broadway Actors’ Strike, Union Says.” Reuters, October 20, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/agreement-reached-avert-broadway-actors-strike-union-says-2025-10-18/.
  5. Tomaswick, Lea. “2025 Labor Power Players.” Politics NY, March 12, 2025. https://politicsny.com/power-lists/2025-labor-power-players/page/6/#al-vincent.
  6. “The 2025 Labor Power 100.” City & State NY, August 26, 2025. https://www.cityandstateny.com/power-lists/2025/08/2025-labor-power-100/407547/.
  7. Huston, Caitlin. “Actors’ Equity Launches Political Action Committee Ahead of 2024 Election (Exclusive).” The Hollywood Reporter, March 24, 2023. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/actors-equity-political-action-committee-2024-election-1235359286/.
  8. Robb, David. “Actors’ Equity Endorses Karen Bass for Mayor of Los Angeles.” Deadline, September 28, 2022. https://deadline.com/2022/09/actors-equity-endorses-karen-bass-mayor-los-angeles-1235129453/.
  9. Evans, Greg. “Actors’ Equity Endorses Kamala Harris for President: ‘We Need Everyone to Ride This Momentum.’” Deadline, August 9, 2024. https://deadline.com/2024/08/actors-equity-kamala-harris-1236035789/.
  10. Evans, Greg. “Actors’ Equity & Broadway League ‘Still Very Far Apart’ as Two-Day Mediation Yields No Agreement; Talks Will Resume as Union Prepares for Strike.” Deadline, October 10, 2025. https://deadline.com/2025/10/actors-equity-broadway-league-negotiations-mediation-1236577402/.
  11. Paulson, Michael. “Broadway Could Face a Strike This Fall. Here’s What to Know.” The New York Times, October 8, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/theater/broadway-strike-actors-musicians-unions.html.
  12. Huston, Caitlin. “Actors’ Equity Members Vote to Ratify Broadway Contract after Strike Threat.” The Hollywood Reporter, October 31, 2025. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/actors-equity-members-vote-to-ratify-broadway-contract-after-strike-threat-1236414629/.
  13. “Actors’ Equity Issues Strike Threat over Touring Contract.” AMERICAN THEATRE, April 3, 2023. https://www.americantheatre.org/2023/04/03/actors-equity-issues-strike-threat-over-touring-contract/.
  14. Salmore, Barbara G., and Stephen A. Salmore. “New Jersey Politics and Government: The Suburbs Come of Age.” 3rd ed. Rutgers University Press, 2008. Page 121. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1d98b3h.
  15. Neibauer, Michael. “Labor or Business: Who in D.C. Has the Most Political Cash?” Washington Business Journal, February 8, 2012. https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/2012/02/labor-or-business-who-in-dc-has-the.html.
  16. “EmpowerPAC.” EmpowerPAC (Accessed via Wayback Machine), February 28, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240228094803/http://empowerpac.org/.
  17. “PAC Profile: Actors’ Equity Assn.” OpenSecrets. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/actors-equity-assn/C00835868/summary/2024.
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