At a time of rising unemployment and declining membership at some unions, many local labor leaders took home healthy pay increases in 2008.

A computer-assisted study by The Honolulu Advertiser found that top executives of the state's 27 largest unions and labor organizations earned an average of $135,135 last year, a 9.4 percent increase from the year-earlier period.

The average pay is about 60 percent higher than the median household income in Hawai'i but pales in comparison to the $2.9 million average paid to CEOs of the state's largest public companies.

About two-thirds of the union executives received raises last year, while six saw pay cuts.

T. George Paris, director of the Iron Workers' Stabilization Fund, was the highest-paid labor executive, earning $403,439 last year. Paris' compensation was up 60.5 percent from his 2007 pay of $251,371.

"That's what they think I am worth," said Paris, who has headed the union advocacy group since 2003.

Lynn Kinney, secretary and treasurer of the Union of Painters' District Council 50, was the next highest-paid executive, with a total pay package of $285,926.

The hefty pay packages came in a year when the building trade unions and other private-sector labor organizations faced tremendous economic pressure.

In 2008, the statewide unemployment rate soared to 5.5 percent from the previous year's 3.1 percent. Companies like Aloha Airlines and Maui Land & Pineapple Co. announced mass layoffs, while others, such as Hawaiian Telcom Inc., went into bankruptcy protection.

Membership in the telephone company's union — the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1357 — has decreased by 200 in recent years to about 900, said business manager Scot Long.

The resulting drop in membership dues will likely mean layoffs of longtime staffers, said Long.

Long's pay went up 8.3 percent to $118,502 last year.

Ron Taketa, financial secretary of the 7,200-member Hawaii Carpenters Union, said 45 percent of his members are out of work because of the decline in construction activity.

Taketa said he and the union's staffers agreed to forgo raises this year after union members voted to freeze wages this year and next.

"The economy has been very tough on our industry," said Taketa, who earned $219,445 last year as head of the Carpenters Union.

"We've lost 500 members in the past two months."

In the wake of the economic downturn and Gov. Linda Lingle's administration push for state worker furloughs, several public employer unions are bracing themselves for tough times. The public employee unions have offered to take a 5 percent pay cut.

J.N. Musto, executive director of the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly, said he's prepared to go to the union's board to reduce dues should faculty salaries decline.

Musto received $193,417 in salary and benefits last year, up 9.4 percent from the year-earlier period.

Most of the increase came from his retirement benefits, and Musto said his base salary for this year is "already frozen" due to the lack of salary increases for faculty members.

Compensation for most labor executives' pay is set by the union boards and is pegged to raises earned by union members.

The Hawai'i Government Employees Association is the state's largest public employee union and said it's premature to talk about pay cuts for HGEA staffers and executives since negotiations with the Lingle administration are ongoing.

But a spokeswoman for the union did say that if members' wages decrease, executive director Randy Perreira and the HGEA's board "would consider implementing something similar."

Last year, Perreira earned $90,906 as the HGEA's head.

Here's how other union leaders did: