This is the first post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our trade departments. The series will run weekly until we’ve covered each of the departments. First up is the Department for Professional Employees (DPE).
Name of Department: Department for Professional Employees
Mission: DPE is a coalition of 25 national unions, collectively representing more than 4 million highly skilled professional and technical workers. Our affiliated unions span an extraordinary breadth of occupations: from health care and education to science, engineering and technology; from arts, entertainment and media to public administration—more than 300 occupations.
DPE is one of six constitutional trades departments within the AFL-CIO structure. It was chartered by the federation in 1977 in recognition of the remarkable growth of professional and technical employees among union members—growth that has only accelerated as the American economy has shifted dramatically from blue-collar to white-collar work. As more professionals seek union representation, DPE’s work grows more essential—not just to those workers themselves but also to the vitality, diversification and future of the labor movement.
DPE’s mission is to assist affiliated unions in achieving their objectives on behalf of professional and technical workers. They do this by offering a forum for discussion, collaboration and action; promoting organizing, collective bargaining and mutual support; demonstrating the value of union membership to professionals and the public; building alliances with advocacy organizations; fostering diversity in the professional workforce and advancing public policies that strengthen the security, well-being, and status of working professionals.
Current Leadership: President Jennifer Dorning has led DPE since 2018, spearheading transformative initiatives to advance the priorities and influence of DPE’s affiliate unions. Dorning devised the strategic effort to organize progressive nonprofits, growing what began as a small unit into the robust Nonprofit Professional Employees Union. A staunch proponent of internal strength, she has prioritized member engagement through regular roundtables, empowering affiliates to build more active and effective memberships. She convenes and leads the Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI)—12 national unions that together form the labor movement’s leading voice on federal policy for the arts, entertainment and media sectors. Key AEMI policy wins under Dorning’s leadership include securing unemployment coverage for hundreds of thousands of gig workers during the pandemic, achieving record federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and winning diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility gains at the federal level.
Rounding out DPE’s leadership are three distinguished officers who bring deep experience and commitment to the labor movement: General Board Chair Fedrick Ingram, secretary-treasurer of the AFT and a nationally recognized champion of educators and public school workers; Treasurer Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) and a tireless advocate for a broad range of professionals; and First Vice President Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA, who has been at the forefront of landmark agreements shaping the future of work for entertainment professionals in the artificial intelligence (AI) era.
Affiliated Unions: Actors’ Equity Association (Equity); AFGE; AFT; American Federation of Musicians (AFM); American Guild of Musical Artists; American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA); Electrical Workers (IBEW); Fire Fighters (IAFF); IAM Union (IAM); International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE); Italian American Actors (GIAA); National Football League Players Association (NFLPA); Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU); Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT); Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS); Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU); SAG-AFTRA; School Administrators (AFSA); Seafarers (SIU); Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC); Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE); United Steelworkers (USW); Utility Workers (UWUA); and Writers Guild of America East (WGAE).
History: Since its founding in 1977, DPE has been the home within the labor movement where professional and technical workers find their collective voice. It is the space where unions representing nurses and engineers, journalists and musicians, educators and scientists come together to work on the common challenges their members face—challenges that cut across industries but are distinctly professional in nature: protecting the integrity of skilled work, advancing policies tailored to highly trained workers and making the case to the broader public that professionals are stronger with a union than without one.
That work has paid off. Over nearly five decades, the presence and power of professional and technical workers within the labor movement has grown substantially, reflecting both the transformation of the U.S. economy and the tireless organizing and advocacy efforts of DPE’s affiliated unions. Professionals are no longer an afterthought in the labor movement—they are increasingly central to it.
Looking forward, DPE’s legislative and policy work, coalition-building and support for affiliate organizing and bargaining are positioning professional workers and their unions to have the resources, representation and policy support they need to thrive. The work of DPE ensures that as the world of work continues to evolve, union professionals will be ready to meet the future from a position of strength.
Current Campaigns/Policy Agenda: DPE’s federal legislative and policy agenda is built around the real challenges facing professional employees today. Their work spans several priorities.
Access to a Union: DPE advocates for legislation that makes it easier for professional workers to organize and collectively bargain, ensuring that the benefits of union membership are accessible to the growing professional workforce.
Professional Integrity: DPE fights for policies that protect professionals’ ability to exercise independent judgment in their work, free from undue employer interference—a critical issue for workers in the federal sector, health care, science, law and beyond.
Immigration: DPE advocates for high-skilled immigration policies that are fair to professional workers, both those who are U.S. citizens and those who come to this country to contribute their skills and expertise.
Nonprofit Professional Employees: Through their Nonprofit Union Coalition, DPE supports the growing wave of professionals at nonprofit organizations who are choosing union representation to secure better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
One of DPE’s dynamic areas of work is the AEMI. Composed of 12 national unions, the AEMI represents actors, broadcast technicians, craftspeople, choreographers, directors, journalists, musicians, performers, writers, singers, stage managers and stagehands working across both the nonprofit and commercial sectors.
The AEMI focuses its federal policy efforts on championing human-centric policies that support sustainable careers in today’s AI era; advancing increased and sustainable federal support for nonprofit arts and public media; ensuring robust copyright and intellectual property protections; and improving diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility across industries.
The AEMI has been an active and urgent voice in the current battles over federal arts funding, pushing back forcefully against proposed cuts and eliminations of the NEA and NEH.
On intellectual property (IP), DPE and the AEMI have been leaders in advocating for strong copyright protections for creative professionals in the face of rapidly advancing AI. DPE has engaged with U.S. trade representatives, the U.S. Copyright Office and international partners on AI and IP policy—ensuring that the interests of working creators are represented at every table where the future of their work is being decided.
The AEMI has also been a leading advocate for the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act (PATPA), legislation that would restore fair tax treatment for entertainment professionals—a common-sense fix that the AEMI has championed in Congress with a broad coalition of unions and employers alike.
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