AFL-CIO’s Department For Professional Employees Sets Legislative Agenda

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Dorning told Deadline, however, that achieving those goals in this Congress – with a majority of Republicans in the House and a slim majority of Democrats in the Senate – will be no easy task.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge. We see that,” she said. “But we see this as a long-term investment on our part, and our affiliates to create systematic change. So we don’t expect to get everything that we want right away. We’re definitely in it for the long haul, and we’re going to working a lot to try to make change.”

Passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act is DPE’s top priority, though it remains a legislative long shot. Recently reintroduced in Congress, “It’s the labor movement’s No. 1 priority, and we’re going to keep pushing for passage,” Michael Wasser, the DPE’s legislative director, told Deadline. “I think we’re all realistic about the dynamics in this Congress, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop trying.”

The Pro Act would greatly expand various labor protections related to employees’ rights to organize and collectively bargain. Among other things, it would allow collective bargaining agreements to require all employees represented by the bargaining unit to contribute fees to the labor organization for the cost of such representation, notwithstanding any state law to the contrary; expand unfair labor practices to include prohibitions against replacement of, or discrimination against, workers who participate in strikes, and make it an unfair labor practice to require or coerce employees to attend employer meetings designed to discourage union membership.

But passing the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act might be the most doable in this Congress, Dorning said. “We thought we were going to get it in the last Congress, and there’s a lot of bipartisan support for that bill. So we are optimistic that we will be able to get that through the 118th Congress,” he said.

It would restore tax breaks for work-related expenses by updating the Qualified Performing Artist deduction and modernizing a provision that has been on the books since it was signed into law in the 1980s by President Ronald Reagan. The provision would allow middle-class entertainment workers to deduct common business expenses again.

Actors’ Equity Association
American Federation of Musicians
American Guild of Musical Artists
American Guild of Variety Artists
Directors Guild of America
Guild of Italian American Actors
IATSE
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Office and Professional Employees International Union
SAG-AFTRA
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society
WGA East

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