Letter in Support of the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act
Re: S. 2872/H.R. 4750, the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act
November 22, 2021
Dear Senators and Representatives,
On behalf of the 24 national unions in the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), I strongly urge you to co-sponsor S. 2872/H.R. 4750, the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act (PATPA), and vote for the bill on the floor. Introduced by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) in the Senate and Reps. Judy Chu (D-CA) and Vern Buchanan (R-FL) in the House, this bipartisan legislation would update the Qualified Performing Artist (QPA) deduction to correct an unintended consequence of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that has caused a drastic tax increase for middle class creative professionals.
Actors, stage managers, dancers, musicians, cinematographers, and many other creative professionals spend 20 to 30 percent of their income on necessary expenses to secure and maintain employment, including travel to auditions, talent agents, and camera equipment. Prior to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, these creators could claim miscellaneous itemized deductions for these business expenses. Without the ability to deduct these expenses, middle class creative professionals have experienced significant tax increases and struggled to make ends meet even before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down nearly all of the arts and entertainment industries.
PATPA would restore tax fairness for middle class creative professionals by updating the eligibility threshold for the QPA deduction. QPA is a provision of the tax law that allows certain performing artists the option to take an “above the line” deduction for expenses incurred in the course of their employment. Currently the adjusted gross income threshold for the QPA deduction is $16,000, a level unchanged since QPA’s inception in 1986. PATPA would raise the threshold to $100,000 for single taxpayers and $200,000 for joint filers, and also add a built-in phase out to help transition the taxpayer out of the deduction.
The ability to claim the QPA deduction would have a meaningful impact on the lives of union creative professionals and their families. According to information from the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, a Pennsylvania sound engineer would realize a tax savings of over $4,500 under PATPA. A Nevada actor would pay $1,500 less in taxes. A New York musician would save $3,000. This is money that these middle class professionals can put toward the next month’s rent, putting food on the table, and contributing to their local economies.
If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director Michael Wasser at mwasser@dpeaflcio.org.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President
Creative Professionals’ Priorities for FY 2022 Budget Reconciliation Process
August 23, 2021
Union creative professionals strongly support the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 14), which will allow for the largest investment in working Americans since the New Deal. Among the needed investments, this budget boosts America’s care infrastructure, expands Medicare coverage and eligibility, and establishes universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds. Each will improve the lives of creative professionals and their families.
Along with investing in a prosperous future for our members and their families, we urge Congress to use the forthcoming reconciliation process as a vehicle to help creative professionals make a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic devastation. The arts, entertainment, and media industries help power a sector that in normal times employs more than five million people and is responsible for over four percent of the United States’ GDP and a positive trade balance. However, the sector has lost over $14 billion in economic activity in the past year because of the pandemic.[i] While some of our unions’ members have been able to resume their careers, many creative professionals, especially those who work in live events, are still unable to return safely to their jobs. In addition, the Delta variant’s emergence is leading every day to more cancelled and postponed events, further denying many creative professionals the opportunity to get back to work.
The following priorities are of paramount importance for union creative professionals in the forthcoming budget reconciliation package:
Reform labor law and support union jobs
The experience of union creative professionals demonstrates that working people do better when they can negotiate collectively for better pay and improved working conditions. Unfortunately, in too many instances, employers are able to violate the NLRA and deny professionals their right to form a union with their colleagues. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act will help ensure that all professionals can achieve their right to join together in union and negotiate collectively with their employers to improve their lives and their workplaces. Recognizing the importance of good, union jobs for our economy, Congress should also set policies that support union members.
Pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.
Allow union members to deduct the cost of union dues from their taxes.
Make professionals who are forced to go on strike or locked out by their employers eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
Extend COVID-19 unemployment insurance (UI) programs and reform the UI system for the next economic crisis
While optimistic that our members will fully return to work eventually, the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the arts, entertainment, and media industries continues as employment remains below March 2020 levels. Continuing COVID-19 UI programs is critical for creative professionals who lost work through no fault of their own and remain in need of relief as they wait for employers to call them back to work.
At the same time, Congress should act now to enact comprehensive UI reform that offers uniform national standards to address benefit adequacy, benefit duration, and expanded eligibility. Workers who work in multiple states – which is common in entertainment – should be able to have their income easily aggregated for benefit amount calculations. Congress should also set a national standard on how residual income, part-time work income, multiple income streams, severance benefits, retirement, and disability income affect weekly benefit eligibility and payments.
The ability of 26 governors to unilaterally shut down the very programs that were created to counteract the inadequacies of state UI programs should serve as a powerful impetus to implement reforms.
Extend Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) past their proposed September 6, 2021 expiration date to the end of 2021.
Support the comprehensive UI reforms proposed in President Biden’s American Families Plan and by Senators Wyden and Bennet.
Preserve access to affordable health care
Our members are proud to earn their health care through employment and their union health care plans. Unfortunately, the near total shutdown of the live performing arts and event sector means that it will be months before many work enough to regain their union health care. While the COBRA subsidy helped members maintain continuity of care and helped stabilize many health funds, that program is temporary in nature and expires in September. In the meantime, the expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies in the American Rescue Plan are a critical lifeline for many middle-class creative professionals who will need a transition back to their traditional health care plans. They should be extended for at least two more years.
Extend the American Rescue Plan’s Affordable Care Act subsidies for at least two additional years.
Create a national paid family and medical leave program
In crafting a national paid family and medical leave program, we urge Congress to accommodate the unique work patterns of our members to ensure they are not left out of this important care infrastructure. Work in the arts, entertainment, and media industries is “gig” based, meaning, in a given year, most creative professionals will work several W-2 jobs for multiple employers, potentially in more than one state. Some creative professionals may also earn income through 1099 arrangements or a combination of W-2 and 1099 work.
Establish a national paid family and medical leave program that considers the unique nature of the arts, entertainment, and media industries.
Protect the dissemination of trusted, local news
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the essential work that journalists and other media professionals do to keep Americans reliably informed. It’s critical that we keep these hard-working individuals, including members of our unions, on the job at a time when local coverage is critical to public safety.
Pass the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.
Looking forward, we urge Congress to include the bipartisan Performing Artist Tax Parity Act in any tax package that comes together for a vote this year. This legislation would update the Qualified Performing Artist (QPA) deduction to correct an unintended consequence of the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act that has caused a drastic tax increase for middle class creative professionals.
[i] Americans for the Arts. (2020) “The Economic Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the Arts and Cultural Sector.” Retrieved on November 9, 2020 from https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-topic/disaster-preparedness/the-economic-impact-of-coronavirus-on-the-arts-and-culture-sector.
Letter in Support of NAICS Code Changes for Digital-Native News Organizations
July 28, 2021
Re: DPE Comment on North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)—Updates for 2022 (Docket ID USBC-2021-0004).
Dear Ms. Leslie,
On behalf of the 24 national unions in the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), I write in support of the Economic Classification Policy Committee’s recommendations for NAICS code changes for online industries in the information sector. In particular, DPE supports the ECPC recommendations in section B3, which would group internet news and periodical publishers with other similar publishers, regardless of their product delivery mechanism.
The NAICS classification of Internet news and periodical publishers is of particular concern for DPE as many journalists and other news professionals who work for digital-native news organizations are members of our affiliate union Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). This change will allow these professionals to be counted among their colleagues for the purposes of public policy, statistical analysis, and other important uses.
Currently, Internet news and periodical outlets are included in NAICS code 519130, Internet publishing and broadcasting and web search portals. This overly broad classification places news organizations such as Vox and Slate in the same category as search engines like Google and Bing and social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. However, beyond their shared use of the Internet as a common resource, Internet news and periodical publishers have very little in common with these other businesses.
The proposed NAICS update correctly recognizes that Internet news and periodical publishers, known colloquially as “digital-native publications” or “digital-native news” organizations, are much more similar to newspapers (current NAICS code 511110) and periodicals (current NAICS code 511120). Digital-native outlets employ journalists, editors, and other media professionals to collect and disseminate news and information on a variety of topics and themes through mediums that can include a combination of writing, video, and podcasting. Outlets like Vox, HuffPost, Thrillist, Curbed, Gizmodo, Refinery29, Slate, SB Nation, and Talking Points Memo cover local and national businesses, politics, and sports, in addition to other issues Americans need to know about – science, health care, the economy, and more. These companies typically maintain editorial standards and operate news bureaus, just like traditional newspapers and magazines. However, unlike legacy newspapers and magazines, Internet news and periodical publishers do not distribute print versions of their content.
The overly broad nature of certain current NAICS codes, including 519130, can make it difficult to properly tailor public policies that are intended for certain industries. For instance, when Congress responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, some relief proposals were targeted to certain industries based on NAICS codes. Designing programs to provide assistance to news organizations hurt by the pandemic’s economic impact posed a challenge because the existing NAICS codes did not group all news organizations together in a distinct category.
Fortunately, the proposed NAICS code updates included in 86 FR 35350 solve this problem, which is why DPE voices its support for the improvements. If approved, the new NAICS codes 513110 and 513120 will properly situate digital-native news businesses in their relevant industries, newspaper publishers and periodical publishers. Print publications are increasingly reliant on revenue from both digital subscriptions and online advertising as a growing majority of Americans read the news online. Additionally, news professionals move seamlessly between digital-native and print-based news publishers throughout their careers and the proposed updates will ensure that professionals working for Internet news and periodical outlets are counted in statistical reports alongside their peers at other publications. As the news business continues to transform, it is critical that policy makers and the public have the most accurate classification of businesses in the industry, regardless of transmission methods.
DPE appreciates OMB taking our perspective and our suggestions into consideration. If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser at mwasser@dpeaflcio.org.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President
Statement for the Record for July 13th House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship hearing on U.S. immigration policies
July 13, 2021
Dear Chairwoman Lofgren and Ranking Member McClintock,
On behalf of the 24 national unions in the Department for Professional Employees, AFL CIO (DPE), I wish to share our perspective on how U.S. immigration policies affect the country’s professional workforce and the ability to attract international talent.
The topic of today’s hearing is directly relevant to DPE’s affiliate unions, which represent over four million professional, technical, and other highly skilled workers. The members of DPE’s unions come from a diverse array of backgrounds, nationalities, and immigration experiences. Within our coalition are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, DACA beneficiaries, and professionals working on an array of temporary nonimmigrant visas - including F, J, H, O, and P visas. Members of DPE affiliate unions are professionals employed in nearly every industry as well as international graduate employees wanting to continue working in the United States.
DPE has long advocated for fundamental reforms to the U.S. immigration system to ensure enforceable workers’ rights and labor standards in any visa program affecting professionals. We oppose low road immigration policies that benefit corporate interests by allowing differential treatment of workers as a source of cheap labor, and we support smart policies that ensure all working people can earn a fair return on their work. DPE’s guiding belief is that U.S. immigration policies must work for professionals, and not just employers.
That is why DPE supports the Keep STEM Talent Act. Introduced in the House last Congress by Reps. Bill Foster (IL) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), this legislation offers a high road approach for allowing talented graduates from U.S. colleges and universities to continue contributing to the American economy while ensuring that they can earn a fair return on their work. Under this legislation, international graduates who have earned STEM advanced degrees from American universities are exempt from the annual green card caps so long as their employers receive approved labor certifications and pay them above the median wage level for the occupation and geographic area. By offering in-demand graduates a direct path to permanence, rather than forcing them to accept precarious, temporary visas, this approach reinforces the professionalism of the STEM workforce and affords individuals agency in the labor market. DPE urges the Subcommittee to consider this legislation as it considers how immigration policies can attract talent to the United States.
DPE’s commitment to a high-road immigration system is also why we advocate for policies that empower professionals. DPE supports allowing professionals to self-petition for permanent status and providing labor market mobility to individuals with approved I-140s. DPE also advocates for prohibitions on “breach fees,” the far too common practice of employers requiring employees to sign one-sided contracts with enormous financial penalties that effectively bind these professionals to their jobs in exchange for sponsoring them for permanent status. DPE believes the Subcommittee should pursue these reforms so that the world’s talent will feel certain that they will not face employer coercion if they come to work in the United States.
DPE also supports improvements to tracking the education to workforce pipeline. Underpinning the focus of this hearing is the question of the supply of available, qualified professionals in the United States. This Subcommittee, and the Congress as a whole, should have the most accurate statistical picture possible. It is not enough to take the corporate lobby at its word. After all, DPE has watched in recent years too many employers claim they cannot find qualified workers, only to layoff their employees, including members of our unions, and require them to train their foreign replacements as a condition for their severance.
While federal and state efforts have made strides to better track the education to workforce pipeline, Congress can and should take concrete steps to improve STEM education and workforce research and data and to assist workers, employers, and educators make informed decisions.1 Currently, national surveys by the Census (Community Population Survey) and Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment Statistics Survey) are the basis for identifying education and occupation trends. While the surveys provide valuable and suitable information for a variety of purposes, the data produced does not effectively identify state, regional, and national trends for STEM education and the STEM workforce.
Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage records, which are filed on a quarterly basis by employers, provide a picture of industry employment and separations, hours worked, and wages. However, UI records are currently a missed opportunity to capture accurate and dynamic occupational data. Done correctly, the inclusion of occupational data in UI wage records would give policymakers, education systems, and all stakeholders insight to national, regional and local labor markets. Enhanced UI wage records could connect credentials and training to specific occupations and provide career mapping information over the course of changes and shifts to the economy.
Following the recommendations of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Information Advisory Council, Congress should make a strong federal policy commitment toward a phased‐in, well‐managed and properly funded process for collecting and analyzing high‐quality occupation data via states' UI systems' wage records. This policy commitment should be supported with increased funding for research and IT needs at the various state agencies performing education and workforce analysis. Finally, the benefit of overhauling and aligning UI records to provide occupational data should be articulated to the business community, education systems, and workers and students in the education-to-workforce pipeline and those in career transition.
In sum, professionals need and expect coherent immigration policies to lift labor standards and protect all workers, regardless of their immigration status. If Congress wants to welcome the world’s talent and recognize their contributions to our economy, it should understand the need and identify ways to ensure that these individuals are able to earn fair, family-supporting pay in an environment free from coercion. That means pursuing a high-road approach to immigration that puts professionals first by lifting wages, promoting worker empowerment, and ensuring that they can exercise their workplace rights free of retaliation or coercion. DPE stands ready to work with the Subcommittee to pass immigration reform that meets this mark.
If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser at mwasser@dpeaflcio.org or (202) 638-0320.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President
Letter in Support of the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA)
June 24, 2021
Dear Member of Congress,
On behalf of the 24 national unions in the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), I write in support of the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA). This bipartisan legislation would ensure that performers, including members of DPE’s affiliate unions, are compensated when their songs are played on terrestrial (AM/FM) radio.
American terrestrial radio stations pad their profits at the expense of music professionals. These broadcasters earn billions in advertising revenue each year while not paying the performers whose music is responsible for the audiences undergirding terrestrial radio’s business model. The AMFA would right this wrong by ensuring performers can earn a fair return for their work.
The AMFA would also ensure that foreign countries pay American artists and musicians when their songs are played abroad. Currently, other countries regularly seize the royalties owed to U.S. performers because American terrestrial radio stations do not pay for music performances. Passing the AMFA therefore will also provide U.S. performers access to hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in payments from outside the United States.
With the United States starting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impact, there is an urgent need for Congress to ensure that performers are paid when their works are played on terrestrial radio here and abroad. Due to their work occurring in public venues and on job sites requiring close personal contact, nearly all artists and musicians have been unable to earn money performing live since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Meanwhile, terrestrial radio stations have weathered the pandemic by profiting off the playing of these creative professionals’ musical works. This inequity can and must be fixed.
It is for this reason that I ask you to join me in supporting the AMFA. Now is the time for Congress to close a loophole that has prevented union creative professionals from earning fair compensation when their songs are played on terrestrial radio.
If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser at mwasser@dpeaflcio.org or (202) 638-0320.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President
DPE Comment on Identifying Barriers Across USCIS Benefits and Services
May 19, 2021
Re: DPE Comment on Identifying Barriers Across U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Benefits and Services (DHS Docket No. USCIS-2021-0004)
Dear Ms. Deshommes,
On behalf of the 24 national unions in the Department for Professional Employees, AFL CIO (DPE), thank you for the opportunity to provide our perspective on how U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can eliminate barriers and improve services for U.S. citizens and foreign citizens.
DPE’s 24 national unions represent over four million professional, technical, and other highly skilled workers. The members of DPE’s unions come from a diverse array of backgrounds, nationalities, and immigration experiences. Within our coalition are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and professionals working on an array of temporary nonimmigrant visas - including F, J, H, O, and P visas. Union professionals also work in industries where employers commonly use these temporary nonimmigrant visa programs, in particular the H-1B visa program. Our recommendations for USCIS are informed by the lived experiences of our unions and their members.
Improve visa processing times to promote the economic interests of professionals
Some union professionals’ livelihoods are inextricably linked to USCIS services, and processing delays can have serious consequences for them, including the loss of job opportunities. The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) represents members on both sides of the border. Canadian members of the AFM rely on the P 2 reciprocal exchange visa program to perform in the U.S. The treatment of Canadian AFM members by USCIS warrants particular attention because of the unique nature of AFM representing both Canadian and U.S. musicians. For these creative professionals, delayed processing has meant missing gigs because approval to work in the United States came after the performance date passed. When this happens, the U.S. professionals scheduled to work alongside these performers can lose out on work too. We urge USCIS to look for ways to streamline processing for Canadian members of AFM. We also urge that when processing delays result in P-2 petitions being approved after the performance date, USCIS refund fees or apply the fees to subsequent P-2 reciprocal exchange visa petitions.
815 16th Street, NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 (202) 638-0320 www.dpeaflcio.org
Similarly, for faculty members and graduate employees, USCIS processing delays can affect travel plans, enrollment, grants, research, study, and employment. We recommend that USCIS take the necessary steps to improve staffing levels at its service centers so that the agency is capable of adjudicating petitions within the time frames set by statute and regulations.
Strengthen and protect the union consultation process for O and P visas
Included in DPE are 12 national unions that represent people who work in our country’s arts, entertainment, and media industries. These unions serve as advisors in the adjudication of O and P visa petitions, the visa categories used by artists, entertainers, and support personnel who want to work temporarily in the United States. The unions’ expertise helps maintain standards and educate USCIS adjudicators about industry nuance.
Our affiliate unions in the arts and entertainment industries take seriously their role as advisors in the O and P visa petition process. The unions use their advisory role to help ensure that employers adhere to existing industry practices and standards, not to deny work opportunities for qualified foreign performers. Any weakening of these unions’ consultation rights would undermine the ability of these unions to maintain the workplace standards that their members fought hard to achieve. Lowered standards would hurt all performers, including those individuals coming from other countries to work in the United States.
At the same time, there are improvements USCIS can make that would better protect performers and their workplace standards, while bringing clarity, predictability, and fairness to the O and P visa petition process. We recommend USCIS:
• Give union consultation letters greater weight. Labor unions provide favorable letters to petitioners in the vast majority of cases. However, USCIS does approve petitions over union objections and denies petitions despite union approval, effectively disregarding union expertise. In the adjudication process, USCIS should give greater weight to union expertise. Additionally, in cases where USCIS did not follow union expertise, USCIS should provide the union a brief written explanation, thus, allowing for the opportunity for USCIS and consulting unions to learn from each other.
• Take additional steps to prevent fraud and abuse. Nearly every labor union that provides consultation letters for petitioners has had their letterhead fraudulently altered by O and P visa petitioners, threatening the integrity of the O and P visa system. Fraudulent submission of labor union consultation letters is made possible by the fact that, until recently, labor unions were required to submit their consultation letters to the petitioner and not to USCIS. Unions may now send consultation letters directly to USCIS in instances when a letter is not favorable to an O or P visa petitioner. This improvement should be more formally codified and expanded to require the direct submission of all consultation letters to USCIS with a copy to the petitioner. Additionally, unions that regularly participate in the consultation process should be called on to help develop training materials to educate O and P visa adjudicators about industry standards and practices and how to identify signs of potential fraud in petitions.
• Open lines of communication with consulting unions. Unions have little ability to directly communicate with USCIS to raise concerns about fraud and abuse when it happens, and USCIS rarely informs the unions that provide consultation letters of the outcomes of visa adjudication cases. In order to strengthen the integrity of the O and P visa system, direct lines of communication must be established and notification must be given to the consulting union of petition adjudication outcomes.
Adopt a wage-based allocation process for the H-1B visa program
USCIS has the authority to determine how the government selects H-1B petitions subject to the annual numerical limit. The statute requires the agency to select petitions in the order in which they are received, which is practically impossible when USCIS receives more petitions than available visas. When this occurs currently, USCIS uses a random lottery process that was never formalized through the regulatory process.
We urge USCIS to reissue, through proper notice and comment, rules to adopt a visa allocation process that is more formalized and transparent, and that prioritizes the petitions of employers paying the highest wages, rather than the existing method of an ad hoc random lottery. Establishing a wage-based allocation system will provide certainty to employers, while increasing the number of international graduates from U.S. colleges and universities hired on H 1B visas since education, experience, and time in the U.S. should command higher salaries. At the same time, a wage-based allocation system will advantage direct-hire employers, including start-ups and small businesses, over the large outsourcers whose business model is built on gaming the random lottery to increase their chances of “winning” large shares of H-1B visas every year.1
Join in an interagency effort to protect professionals’ workplace rights
Professionals working on temporary work visa programs are particularly at risk for exploitation because employers control their ability to live and work in the United States. This dynamic also means that individuals’ immigration statuses can be used against them in retaliation for blowing the whistle on workplace crimes. When this happens, unscrupulous employers lower standards for all working people, including U.S. professionals.
We urge USCIS to join in an interagency effort similar to the Interagency Working Group for the Consistent Enforcement of Federal Labor, Employment, and Immigration Laws that existed at the end of the Obama Administration. An interagency working group will improve communications between the labor, employment, and immigration agencies, and also send a signal to low-road employers that immigration laws cannot be used to threaten or intimidate professionals exercising their workplace rights.
An interagency working group can also provide a forum for reviewing current rules and engaging in new rulemaking where necessary to better protect workers’ rights. As an example, updated regulations are better needed to protect F-1 and J-1 beneficiaries. The F-1 regulations2 require “a full course of study” and the J-1 regulations3require a sponsor to terminate an exchange visitor’s participation in the program if they “fail to pursue the activities for which he or she was admitted to the United States.” The U.S. government should clarify both regulations to make clear that labor protest, including strikes, are protected and would not be grounds under either regulation for any adverse action either from employers or the government. The F-1 regulations also include a provision called “effect of strike” which requires the suspension of work authorization in case of a strike.4 The government should clarify these regulations so that employers cannot use them to threaten professionals who are organizing unions or striking.5
DPE appreciates USCIS taking our perspective and our suggestions into consideration. USCIS has an important mission and its work impacts the lives of union professionals on a near daily basis. We are available as a resource and welcome the opportunity to follow-up on any of the above issues.
If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser at mwasser@dpeaflcio.org.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President
Letter in Opposition to the Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA)
April 15, 2021
Dear Member of Congress,
On behalf of the 24 national unions in the Department for Professional Employees, AFLCIO (DPE), I write to express strong opposition to the Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA). This bill would deny music professionals, including many members of DPE affiliate unions, the right to be paid fairly for their work. I ask that you neither co-sponsor nor otherwise support this legislation.
The LRFA is not about freedom, but rather the ability of major corporations to pad their profits at the expense of recording artists. American terrestrial radio stations have long profited from playing songs without compensating the artists and musicians who performed these creative works. These recording artists are not guaranteed a share of the advertising revenue their performances help generate. The LRFA would enshrine this injustice by misclassifying fair payments for the use of recording artists’ works as a “tax.”
Recording artists, like all professionals, deserve a fair return on their work. Just as you would not consider nurses’ pay to be a tax on hospitals, you should not accept the premise, put forward by the LRFA’s supporters, that frees them of the responsibility to pay artists and musicians for use of their recorded performances.
As the United States just begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impact, it is high time for Congress to ensure that recording artists have a performance right across all music platforms, including terrestrial radio. With their work occurring in public venues and on job sites requiring close personal contact, nearly all artists and musicians have been unable to earn money performing live since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Meanwhile, terrestrial radio stations have been able to weather the pandemic by profiting off the playing of these creative professionals’ musical works. This inequity can and must be fixed.
It is for this reason that I respectfully ask that you oppose the LRFA. Congress should be working to provide a performance right for recording artists across all music listening platforms, not blocking their ability to be paid for the work they do.
If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser at mwasser@dpeaflcio.org or (202) 638-0320.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President
Letter Supporting H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021
March 8, 2021
Re: H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021
Dear Representative,
On behalf of the 24 national unions in the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), I strongly urge you to support H.R. 842, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021, and to oppose any weakening amendments and any Motion to Recommit when the House of Representatives considers this bill. The PRO Act will ensure that professionals can exercise their right to join together in union and negotiate collectively with their employers by restoring the original intent of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
DPE knows from our 2016 national survey of nonunion professionals that a majority of professionals want to join together in union. Unfortunately, in too many instances, employers are able to violate the NLRA and deny professionals their right to form a union with their colleagues.
The PRO Act will help ensure all professionals can achieve their right to join together in union and negotiate collectively with their employers to improve their lives and their workplaces. The legislation modernizes the NLRA so that it has remedies consistent with other workplace laws, ending the perverse incentive that exists currently for employers to break the law. Companies and individual corporate officers will be subject to financial penalties if they violate the NLRA, and professionals will have the ability to bring their cases to federal court. Further, the PRO Act will provide for fair union elections. The bill will also stop employers from hiding behind a subcontractor or other intermediary, or deliberately misclassifying professional employees as supervisors or independent contractors to evade their employer responsibilities.
Recognizing that professionals can only fully realize the value of joining together in union when they have a written contract, the PRO Act will also put a stop to employers using tactics that prevent employees from achieving a union contract. The legislation establishes a process for mediation and arbitration to assist employers and their employees with reaching agreement on a first contract. A written contract – just like CEOs have – is how union professionals can guarantee pay and benefits, ensure a voice in decisions affecting them at work, and secure pathways to sustain their careers.
The PRO Act also recognizes that professionals must be able to picket or withhold their labor in order to have the power necessary to improve their workplaces. The legislation will prevent employers from hiring permanent replacement workers in instances when professionals decide they have no choice but to go on strike. In addition, nonunion professionals will be able to engage in collective action to enforce basic workplace rights, instead of being required to pursue justice on their own through employer-favored arbitration proceedings.
Lastly, the PRO Act would eliminate state right to work laws. Secretive special interest groups and their billionaire funders push these laws in an effort to give corporations more power at the expense of everyday professionals. We must learn from the experience of the past seven decades, which has shown that people in states with right to work have lower wages and reduced access to quality health care and retirement security.
The experience of the more than four million professional, technical, and other highly-skilled workers who make up DPE’s 24 national unions demonstrates that working people do better when they can negotiate collectively for better pay and improved working conditions. That is why a majority of nonunion professionals want to join together with colleagues and negotiate with their own employers. And it is why I urge you to support the PRO Act when it comes before you for a vote on the House floor.
If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser at (202) 638-0320 or mwasser@dpeaflcio.org.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President
House/Senate Letter Urging Access to the Paycheck Protection Program for Digital-Native News Organizations
February 9, 2021
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Chairwoman Velazquez, and Chairman Cardin,
On behalf of the 24 national unions in the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), I write in support of expanding Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) eligibility to digital-native news organizations that do not already qualify for PPP loans. Included in DPE is the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), whose members include journalists and other media professionals working for a number of digital-native news organizations. Expanding PPP access to digital-native news organizations will help ensure these professionals can stay on the job at a time when access to reliable news and information is essential.
As background, in the December 2020 COVID-19 relief and omnibus funding bill, Congress provided PPP eligibility to newspapers, broadcast television, and radio stations. Digital-native news organizations were not covered by this legislation because they are classified under a different NAICS code than newspapers, broadcast TV stations, and radio stations. Digital-native sites also generally do not otherwise qualify for PPP loans because most companies have more than 500 employees. As a result, excluded from the Payroll Protection Program are the more than 16,000 journalists and news professionals, including thousands of union professionals, who work for digital-native outlets doing similar local, regional, and national reporting as their counterparts at newspapers and television and radio stations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the news industry’s advertising revenues across all formats, print, television, radio, and digital-native. Absent immediate access to payroll support to weather the pandemic’s impact, journalists and other media professionals working for digital-native news organizations will continue suffering layoffs and furloughs, and in an era when people turn first to their phones, tablets, and computers for news, the public will lose access to reliable information about their local communities. It is for this reason that I ask that you expand PPP eligibility to digital-native news organizations that do not already qualify for the program.
If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser, at mwasser@dpeaflcio.org or (202) 638-0320 x. 11.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning, President
COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Priorities for Creative Professionals
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate creative professionals. Economic relief aimed at supporting creative professionals during the pandemic is urgently needed. The economic devastation goes beyond creative professionals’ wages, affecting their health insurance and retirement security due to the near total work stoppage. In normal times, these everyday individuals help power a sector that generates more than four percent of the country’s GDP and employs more than four million people. However, to date, this sector has lost an estimated $14.1 billion in economic activity due to COVID-19,[1] and losses are expected to continue as many theaters, soundstages, and performance venues remain dark well into 2021.
Economic relief will also be needed so that employment in this vital sector can return to pre-pandemic levels when it is safe to go back to work. Helping get creative professionals back to work safely will help the economy as a whole recover faster, as their industries’ audiences spend an estimated $31.47 per person, per event, beyond the cost of admission on lodging, restaurants, clothing, transportation, and other goods and services.[2]
Relief
Extend and expand COVID-19 economic support programs
Extend Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation through December 31, 2021.
Extend the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s paid leave provisions through December 31, 2021 and expand its coverage to professionals working for companies with 500 or more employees.
Preserve access to affordable, quality healthcare
Subsidize 100 percent of a person’s COBRA costs for one year.
Extend COBRA eligibility to 36 months.
Provide economic support for multiemployer health plans that are waiving cost-sharing or keeping ineligible members on their plans for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Protect the pension funds of creative professionals
Allow multiemployer pension plans to:
Freeze zone status for at least one year, based on provisions similar to the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008.
Smooth investment and contribution base unit (“CBU”) losses in the funding standard account, and investment losses in the development of the actuarial value of assets, following provisions similar to the Pension Relief Act of 2010.
Institute a special partition program at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to deal with critically endangered multiemployer plans without increasing burdens on healthy pension plans.
Shore up the PBGC through government funding, rather than by depriving healthy plans of funds needed to cover plan obligations.
Protect the collection and dissemination of news and information
Expand Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) access already provided for print, radio, and television news organizations to digital-native news organizations to keep news professionals on the job at a time when news is essential.
Provide fair access to government economic support for all nonprofits
Extend PPP access to 501(c)5 organizations in line with local chambers of commerce, trade associations, and other 501(c)6 organizations’ existing PPP access.
Ensure tax fairness for middle-class creative professionals
Allow middle-class creative professionals to deduct necessary business expenses by including the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act of 2019, bipartisan legislation that would update the Qualified Performing Artist tax deduction.
Sector Recovery
General
Establish a federal insurance program for pandemic-related losses to encourage the resumption of productions and performances that will put creative professionals back to work.
A federal insurance program has been available previously, and is needed for the sector to resume hiring creative professionals to work productions and performances. Knowing that potential pandemic-related losses are insured will motivate banks and other private lenders to invest in productions and performances that may need to shut down if a cast member tests positive.
Create a nonrefundable tax credit for businesses to cover the costs of COVID-19 workplace safety compliance, including expenses for sanitation, personal protective equipment (“PPE”), and testing.
Live Theater and Performances
Appropriate $9 billion dollars for the National Endowment for the Arts to help jump start productions and put people back to work across the nonprofit arts sector.
Dedicate 75 percent of the $9 billion for the NEA to expand grant capacity to ensure arts organizations can continue operations, keep arts professionals employed, and immediately resume productions when it is safe to do so.
Authorize the NEA to distribute the remaining money to temporary programs that put arts professionals to work on projects that can lift the spirits of Americans as the country emerges from the pandemic. Such projects could include:
“Reopening America” performing arts tours that bring music, theater, dance, opera, and variety performances to big cities and small towns across the country at minimal cost to Americans, particularly areas that do not often see touring performances.
Increased USO performances for the military and their families at military bases here in the United States and abroad.
Free matinee performances of nearby musical, theatrical, dance, opera, and variety productions for K-12 school children and the residents of retirement homes and assisted-living centers who were particularly isolated during the pandemic.
Encourage employers to put creative professionals back to work quickly.
Provide a temporary, two-year partial employer tax credit for each person employed in the cast or crew of musical, theatrical, dance, opera, or variety performance.[3]
Incentivize private support for the arts.
Permanently reinstate the business entertainment tax deduction.
Provide a temporary, two-year individual entertainment tax deduction for the purchase of tickets to live arts and entertainment performances up to $400 per individual/$800 per joint filer.
Film and Television
Pass a National Broadband Program to allow more households access to high-speed Internet and the ability to stream content, which in turn will increase residual income for union creative professionals and their health and retirement funds. Such a broadband program should provide federal funds to companies to provide high-speed Internet to unserved areas of the country.[4] Companies receiving such funds must honor any existing collective bargaining agreements they have, be prohibited from outsourcing of U.S. jobs, and must remain neutral during any union organizing drive.
Public Radio and Television
Commit to a two-year temporary funding infusion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help stations that are affected by reduced charitable giving as a result of COVID-19’s economic impact.[5] Funding should support:
Continued operations at public radio and broadcasting stations.
Maintaining employment at public radio and broadcast stations, including the rehiring of employees laid-off or furloughed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grants to seed American-based productions of new content for public television and radio.
Triple the grant capacity of the National Endowment for the Humanity’s Media Projects program, which supports the development, production, and distribution of radio, podcast, television, and long-form documentary film projects that engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways.
News and Information
Pass a two-year temporary tax credit to maintain journalists and other media workers on payroll across all formats - print, radio, TV, and digital - to ensure continued information at a time when it is needed most and as industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic’s shock to advertising revenue.
Appropriate and direct federal advertising dollars for programs where community outreach is needed for spending on local media.
If you have any questions, please contact DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser at (202) 638-0320 ext. 11 or mwasser@dpeaflcio.org
[1] Americans for the Arts. (2020) “The Economic Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the Arts and Cultural Sector.” Retrieved on November 9, 2020 from https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-topic/disaster-preparedness/the-economic-impact-of-coronavirus-on-the-arts-and-culture-sector.
[2] “Arts Audiences.” (2017).Arts and Economic Prosperity Five. Americans for the Arts. Retrieved on January 25, 2020 from https://www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/aep5/PDF_Files/NationalFindings_StatisticalReport.pdf.
[3] The tax credit should go to new hires and individuals re-hired to work for the same employer on multiple productions or performances.
[4] An unserved area of the country would be defined as one where citizens do not have access to the FCC’s standard for broadband which is download speeds of a minimum of 25 Mbps and upload speeds of a minimum of 3 Mbps.
[5] The 2008 Great Recession led to a 7 percent reduction in charitable giving in 2008 and a 6.2 percent reduction in 2009. Charitable giving did not recover back to pre-recession levels until 2014. (Reich, Rob & Wimer, Christopher. 2012. Charitable Giving and the Great Recession. Stanford, CA: Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality. Retrieved from https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/CharitableGiving_fact_sheet.pdf)