We’ve all lamented the lower wages, the lack of insurance, and the general invisibility of our freelance existences. However, if there were a union of like-minded souls out there hell-bent on advocacy and group insurance coverage, would you join?
The Freelancer’s Union is a 75K+ conglomeration of freelancers from across the country and across industries. Using the idea of buying power in large groups, the Union (I shall refrain from calling it by its acronym) offers access to low-cost policies for health, dental, and life insurance. The site also offers insight into the group’s advocacy projects. There’s also a blog and forums. Members can link to their blogs on the site, and membership allows you discounts at selected merchants, a profile page, and resources aplenty.
Is it for you? I don’t know, but it’s free to join. Remember, it’s not just for writers, but for all freelancers. I’m a member. I might even get the t-shirt (“1099 for Life” – I approve!).
Thoughts? Concerns? Ideas?
I’m considering joining them because of the insurance offerings. However, they only offer insurance if you’re based in NY (unless it’s changed over the past few months).
A choreographer friend of mine has urged me to join. She said it’s helped her enormously.
I plan to join the National Wrtiers’ Union later this year, too.
As a union negotiator for my own Broadway union, I’m a big believer in a unionized labor force, especially with everything employers have stripped in this industry.
Bill Moyers had a great program about the discrepancy between the people who do the work and the top execs on his show last night. Taking inflation into account, we’re making less than our grandparents did.
I am a member of the Freelancers Union, but other than getting a quote for medical insurance I honestly have not utilized their resources well. I have recently received emails about teleclasses and webinars they have to help with the business end of freelancing. I plan to take advantage of those soon. I don’t quite understand how the Freelancers union can help keep writers from being offered crappy pay though…
I’ve found that where I live, I can secure better health insurance rates on my own than these organizations offer to their group. Since that would be my main incentive for joining, I haven’t done so. I do, however, like the concept of the Freelancers’ Union and may check it out better in the future.