DPE Commends the Release of USTR’s 2025 Notorious Markets List

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Katie Barrows
Communications Director
P: 202-549-5991
kbarrows@dpeaflcio.org

WASHINGTON, Mar. 4, 2026 - The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its 2025 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy report (the “Notorious Markets List”), which calls attention to online and physical markets where substantial piracy or counterfeiting occurs. The Notorious Markets List is intended to help private sector organizations and governments prioritize enforcement efforts to reduce content theft. Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) President Jennifer Dorning released the following statement on the report:

“I applaud Ambassador Greer, USTR staff, and interagency partners for keeping attention on the harm of content theft through the annual Notorious Markets List. The 2025 report again demonstrates that everyday union creative professionals lose out when content theft proliferates online. Illegal sales and streams equate to less pay, lost contributions to health insurance and pension plans, and fewer future job opportunities for members of the Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) unions within DPE.

DPE continues to encourage USTR to use future Notorious Markets Lists to monitor the misuse of AI for illicit purposes. Without safeguards and appropriate transparency, generative AI will be used as a sophisticated, deceptive tool for content theft and the unauthorized digital replication of individuals’ voices and likenesses.”

About DPE

The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) is a coalition of 24 unions representing over four million professional and technical union members. DPE affiliate unions represent professionals in over 300 occupations in education and healthcare; science, engineering, and technology; legal, business, and management; media, entertainment, and the arts; and public administration.

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Unions Applaud Exclusion of AI Moratorium from FY 2026 NDAA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Katie Barrows
Communications Director
P: 202-549-5991
kbarrows@dpeaflcio.org

WASHINGTON, December 8, 2025 - Over the weekend House and Senate leaders released a compromise Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) without language prohibiting states from implementing and enforcing their own AI laws.

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) unions within the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO released the following statement applauding the decision not to pursue the moratorium:

“The members of our unions know firsthand both the promise and risks of emerging AI technologies. For this reason, we support common sense policy guardrails at the state and federal levels. 

Today, state laws protect creative professionals and union journalists from harmful AI deepfakes, provide important transparency, and reduce the risk of discrimination and bias in AI. Blocking these important protections will put our members in harm’s way because the same federal guardrails currently do not exist. 

We support federal legislation that will protect people across state lines and establish predictability and uniformity for stakeholders. Stopping states from passing and enforcing AI safety laws before Congress acts is an invitation for lawlessness that directly threatens our members and their economic livelihoods. 

We thank the members of the U.S. House and Senate who pushed back against misguided attempts to place moratoriums on state AI laws in the NDAA and other legislation, and we urge the Administration to reconsider similar attempts to limit the rights of state governments to protect their constituents.”

The AEMI unions include:

• Actors’ Equity Association (Equity)

• American Federation of Musicians (AFM)

• American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA)

• American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA)

• Directors Guild of America (DGA)

• Guild of Italian American Actors (GIAA)

• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE)

• Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU)

• Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)

• Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC)

• Writers Guild of America East (WGAE)

About DPE

The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) is a coalition of 24 unions representing over four million professional and technical union members. DPE affiliate unions represent professionals in over 300 occupations in education and healthcare; science, engineering, and technology; legal, business, and management; media, entertainment, and the arts; and public administration.

AEMI Public Media Unions Denounce Passage of Rescissions Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Katie Barrows
Communications Director
P: 202-549-5991
kbarrows@dpeaflcio.org

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2025 - Last week, Congress voted to approve H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, which revokes $1.1 billion in already-approved funding for public media. 

The Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) unions within the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO that have members who work in public media released the following statement in response to the vote:

“We denounce the passage of the Rescissions Act of 2025, which claws back already approved funding for public media, including, PBS, PBS Kids, NPR and small noncommercial stations across the country. 

Rescinding public media funds is a radical act that will immediately impact the members of our unions who work on-air and behind-the-scenes to support and enrich their communities, many of whom rely on these stations for critical access to news, local information, and free educational content. More than 19,000 people who work in public radio and broadcasting now face an uncertain future with looming job losses and economic pain, with rural America slated to be hit the hardest by these cuts. 

At the same time, today is not the last word. We will keep making the case for public media because we know its economic value and the importance it plays in everyday Americans’ lives.”

The AEMI unions with members working in public media include:

• American Federation of Musicians (AFM)

• Directors Guild of America (DGA)

• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

• Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU)

• Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)

• Writers Guild of America East (WGAE)

About the AEMI

The Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) coalition is made up of 12 national unions that represent professionals in the arts, entertainment, and media industries and is led by DPE. The AEMI is the leading voice in the labor movement on public policy in the arts, entertainment, and media industries.

About DPE

The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) is a coalition of 24 unions representing over four million professional and technical union members. DPE affiliate unions represent professionals in over 300 occupations in education and healthcare; science, engineering, and technology; legal, business, and management; media, entertainment, and the arts; and public administration.

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Unions Push Back Against Proposed Elimination of the NEA, NEH, and CPB

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Katie Barrows
Communications Director
P: 202-549-5991
kbarrows@dpeaflcio.org

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2025 - Last week the Trump Administration released President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 “Skinny” Budget Request, which called for eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). 

The Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) coalition within the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO released the following statement in response to the proposed elimination of the NEA, NEH, and CPB:

“Unions are prepared to fight back again against efforts to eliminate the NEA, NEH, and CPB. Nonprofit arts, humanities, and public media enjoy broad, bipartisan public support because they power local economies in every state and expand access to quality artistic and educational content across communities. Shutting down the NEA, NEH, or CPB would be a radical action that would harm everyday people. 

The notion that federal funding for the arts, humanities, or public media is a financial burden for working Americans is plainly wrong.

We know firsthand the economic value of federal funding for the arts, humanities, and public media. Many members of our unions earn their living working on nonprofit productions, documentaries, and informational programs that receive funding from the NEA, NEH, or CPB. For some union members, NEA, NEH, and CPB- supported projects served as an entry point to careers in the commercial side of their industries, particularly people who grew up in rural areas far from the country’s larger media markets. These projects also have a positive economic impact for local economies beyond employment, as audiences spend an estimated $38.46 per person, per event, beyond the cost of admission, on goods and services in the communities where they attend arts and cultural programs.

Similarly, we are deeply concerned about the haphazard termination of hundreds of NEA and NEH grants. Many unions’ members who work or anticipated working on the programs supported by these grants now face economic uncertainty as funding disappears and their jobs are eliminated. 

Private money cannot fully replace federal funding. Eliminating the NEA, NEH, or CPB will lead to the loss of good, middle-class jobs. The most acute economic pain will be far from the soundstages of Hollywood and bright lights of Broadway. Job losses will be in communities where the NEA may be the only funder for regional theater or at local TV or radio stations that depend on CPB funding. 

Congress should continue to increase funding for the NEA, NEH, and CPB as an investment that helps put people, including our members, to work and enriches the fabric of our democracy.”

The AEMI includes:

• Actors’ Equity Association (Equity)

• American Federation of Musicians (AFM)

• American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA)

• American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA)

• Directors Guild of America (DGA)

• Guild of Italian American Actors (GIAA)

• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE)

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

• Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU)

• Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)

• Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC)

• Writers Guild of America East (WGAE)

About the AEMI

The Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) coalition is made up of 12 national unions that represent professionals in the arts, entertainment, and media industries and is led by DPE. The AEMI is the leading voice in the labor movement on public policy in the arts, entertainment, and media industries.

About DPE

The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) is a coalition of 24 unions representing over four million professional and technical union members. DPE affiliate unions represent professionals in over 300 occupations in education and healthcare; science, engineering, and technology; legal, business, and management; media, entertainment, and the arts; and public administration.

DPE Applauds Senate Reintroduction of PATPA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Katie Barrows
Communications Director
P: 202-549-5991
kbarrows@dpeaflcio.org

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2025 - Today, Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) reintroduced the bipartisan Performing Artist Tax Parity Act (PATPA). By updating the Qualified Performing Artist (QPA) deduction’s earnings threshold, PATPA allows middle class, creative professionals to take above-the-line deductions for unreimbursed essential work expenses. PATPA was already reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.) in January. 

In response to the Senate reintroduction of PATPA, Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) President Jennifer Dorning released the following statement:

“I commend Senators Tillis and Warner for reintroducing PATPA, which will put money back into the hands of hardworking professionals.

Many members of DPE affiliated unions in the arts, entertainment, and media industries spend 20 to 30 percent of their income on expenses necessary to secure and maintain employment, like headshots, agents and managers, or equipment. Past changes to the tax code caused middle-class, creative professionals to lose their ability to deduct these expenses and unintentionally raised their tax bills significantly. PATPA provides a bipartisan solution that promotes tax fairness by restoring middle-class entertainment workers' ability to deduct legitimate, required work expenses.

DPE encourages Congress to do right by middle-class professionals in the entertainment industry and pass PATPA.” 

About DPE

The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) is a coalition of 24 unions representing over four million professional and technical union members. DPE affiliate unions represent professionals in over 300 occupations in education and healthcare; science, engineering, and technology; legal, business, and management; media, entertainment, and the arts; and public administration.

DPE Commends USTR’s Report on Notorious Markets for Highlighting the Impact Content Theft has on Creative Professionals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Katie Barrows
Communications Director
P: 202-549-5991
kbarrows@dpeaflcio.org

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2023 - Today, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its latest report that highlights prominent and illustrative examples of online and physical markets that reportedly engage in, facilitate, overlook, or benefit from substantial copyright piracy or trademark counterfeiting. Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) President Jennifer Dorning released the following statement in response to the report, the 2022 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy:

“I commend Ambassador Tai and USTR for using the 2022 Notorious Markets List to examine the impact online content theft has on U.S. workers. Additionally, I appreciate the report’s acknowledgment that this is an issue directly affecting the members of DPE’s affiliate unions in the arts, entertainment, and media industries.

Union creative professionals rely on adequate and effective copyright protection to earn a fair return on their work. Many members of DPE’s affiliate unions in the arts and entertainment industries earn collectively bargained pay and contributions to their health insurance and pension plans from the sales and licensing of films, TV shows, music, and other content they help create. Revenue from authorized sales and licensing also funds the projects of tomorrow that union creative professionals count on for future jobs. As the 2022 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy makes clear, content theft is pervasive and it hurts working people.   

DPE remains ready to support USTR and the Biden-Harris Administration as they pursue a worker-centered trade policy that provides the strong copyright protections that middle-class creative professionals need to secure their livelihoods in today’s digital era. ” 

About DPE

The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) is a coalition of 24 unions representing over four million professional and technical union members. DPE affiliate unions represent professionals in over 300 occupations in education and healthcare; science, engineering, and technology; legal, business, and management; media, entertainment, and the arts; and public administration.