Die Neue Zeit
3rd September 2012, 21:26
All the Freelancers Union needs to do is take that final step from grassroots lobby group (political canvassing, raising money for politicians who advocate for freelancers’ rights, lobbying state governments for legislative change) to independent political party, even one inspired technologically by the Pirate "movement." Other than that, it's a better path to a "Workers Party" than any traditional "organized labour" route (i.e., a "labor" party based on the trade unions).
Right now, it has its own health insurance company and retirement plan for freelance workers, not to mention discounts on gyms and hotels, aiming to "build a new social support system that makes sense now and two generations from now."
This article is more critical, but on this next critique misses the point:
http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=4094
But how does one organize a workforce that is, by definition, unaffiliated? Where do you find members, if not in assembly lines or hiring halls? How do you hold your employers accountable and make yourself visible to government when you cannot strike? And isn’t a freelancers’ union, in all its individualistic self-organization, the ultimate oxymoron?
[...]
A traditional union that’s governed by the National Labor Relations Act is classified as a (C)5, which allows it to engage in collective bargaining. The FU, on the other hand, is a 501(C)4 organization, which means it is essentially a not-for-profit advocacy group.
[...]
The prospect of the Freelancers Union’s bringing about nationwide policy changes is less convincing. It is unclear how its constituents—who really could be re-named the Hipster Union—will become a political force strong enough to take on Washington and Wall Street if their so-called solidarity extends only to a small group of likeminded individualists.
Answer (not in article or the author's strike fetish): Become an independent political party (more than just stop backing Bloomberg, Obama, et al) and expand the social support system.
Right now, it has its own health insurance company and retirement plan for freelance workers, not to mention discounts on gyms and hotels, aiming to "build a new social support system that makes sense now and two generations from now."
This article is more critical, but on this next critique misses the point:
http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=4094
But how does one organize a workforce that is, by definition, unaffiliated? Where do you find members, if not in assembly lines or hiring halls? How do you hold your employers accountable and make yourself visible to government when you cannot strike? And isn’t a freelancers’ union, in all its individualistic self-organization, the ultimate oxymoron?
[...]
A traditional union that’s governed by the National Labor Relations Act is classified as a (C)5, which allows it to engage in collective bargaining. The FU, on the other hand, is a 501(C)4 organization, which means it is essentially a not-for-profit advocacy group.
[...]
The prospect of the Freelancers Union’s bringing about nationwide policy changes is less convincing. It is unclear how its constituents—who really could be re-named the Hipster Union—will become a political force strong enough to take on Washington and Wall Street if their so-called solidarity extends only to a small group of likeminded individualists.
Answer (not in article or the author's strike fetish): Become an independent political party (more than just stop backing Bloomberg, Obama, et al) and expand the social support system.