Illegal Downloads Steal Wages, Benefits From Workers
Too few people who download entertainment illegally recognize that they are stealing wages and benefits from workers, Paul Almeida, president of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE) told a bipartisan Capitol Hill press conference today.
Almeida joined with members of Congress and business leaders to discuss the continuing harm illegal downloads and other online infringement or counterfeits pose to American jobs and the economy. According to estimates, intellectual property theft costs the U.S. economy more than $100 billion every year and results in the loss of thousands of American jobs.
Unions Back New Plan to Battle Intellectual Property Pirates
Intellectual property theft—anything from pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters and popular music to counterfeit brand-name airplane parts—steals American jobs and hurts the economy. This week, the Obama administration outlined a new strategy to stem the global flood of pirated property.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other union leaders applauded the new battle plan. Says Trumka:
Intellectual property fuels some of the most vibrant sectors of the U.S. economy. When digital thieves steal entertainment, or counterfeiters make cheap copies of quality products, they rob American workers of jobs and income.
Executive Council: Piracy Costs Good Jobs
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.
