Labor & Employment Law

Executive Council: Piracy Costs Good Jobs

By James Parks

The AFL-CIO Executive Council unanimously endorsed the entertainment industry unions’ campaign to stop the theft of intellectual property, often called piracy.

The council noted that each year, digital theft of sound recordings costs the U.S. economy $12.5 billion in total output and costs U.S. workers 71,060 jobs. Feature film piracy results in an estimated $5.5 billion in lost wages annually, and the loss of an estimated 141,030 jobs that would otherwise have been created.

The council statement said, in part:

Motion pictures, television, sound recordings and other entertainment are a vibrant part of the U.S. economy. They yield one of its few remaining trade surpluses. The online theft of copyrighted works and the sale of illegal CDs and DVDs threaten the vitality of U.S. entertainment and thus its working people.

In a joint statement, Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) President Matthew Loeb, Screen Actors (SAG) President Ken Howard and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) President Roberta Reardon, all members of the Executive Council, praised the council action.

Loeb said:

This is a strong statement of support from the AFL-CIO in our fight against the theft of product upon which the members of the entertainment industry unions and guilds depend. We will continue to pursue every avenue we can to stop digital theft.

Reardon added there are serious consequences to the economy when an artist’s work is pirated:

 It’s important to remember that downloading illegal content is the same as walking into a record or book store and stealing a CD or DVD. Recording artists earn more than 90 percent of their income through the physical and digital download sales of their albums, and stealing their work?as well as that of actors, singers, dancers and other professional talent?seriously threatens their ability to earn a living and support their families.

SAG’s Howard said:

Today’s action provides important support to the tens of thousands of men and women in the entertainment industry whose jobs are threatened by illegal duplication and download of movies and television shows.

The resolution was submitted by the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees on behalf of IATSE, SAG, AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). The Executive Council met in Orlando, Fla., March 1-3.

Check out all the council statements here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 05, 2010 (boomark / email).