Netroots Nation: Freelance Workers of the World, Unite

by Tula Connell, Jul 22, 2010

“Electronic sweatshops”—in which workers are expected to put in 16-hour days—are just one part of what independent professional workers endure today, and the union movement needs to create new models to reach out to this rapidly growing workforce. “Freelancers of the World, Unite!” an afternoon panel at the Netroots Nation conference, explored how media and other major corporations exploit “self-contracted” workers—and discussed how the union movement should reach out to these workers as they do among home health care workers, taxi workers and, most recently, domestic workers in New York.

Sponsored by the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), the panel included Joe Danisi, Joe Danisi, who explained that  independent workers are subject to egregious terms set by employers because the standards in this part of the industry are so low–for example, no health care coverage and ridiculously long hours–and is currently non-union. However, unionized workers in this rest of the entertainment industry have won health care, pensions and workplace protection through wgae contracts. Danisi, has written, directed and produced dozens of non-fiction documentaries for television networks such as the History Channel, Discovery and A and E.

Althea Erickson, associate director of Advocacy and Policy at Freelancers Union, described the group’s model of empowering independent workers in New York, including efforts to create a self-funded health care pool and an unemployment pool by and for  independent workers, who currently are not covered under federal or state unemployment insurance systems.

Justin Molito, organizing director for WGAE, noted how independent workers in Europe, calling themselves “the precarious labor movement,” have taken to the streets and brought attention to their plight, joining professional and service-sector workers in the movement.

The many questions posed by the audience stemmed from independent workers interested in available retirement and other benefits through the Freelancers Union—proving the panel’s point that this group badly needs unions.

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