Freelancers Union - Structure

Structure

According to the organization, membership in Freelancers Union is more than 80,000 in New York with more than 150,000 nationwide. This includes the freelancers, consultants, independent contractors, temps, part-timers, contingent employees and the self-employed that make up one-third of the American workforce. Because they are employed in nontraditional arrangements, these independent workers do not have access to employer-based insurance. Therefore, Working Today, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, launched Freelancers Union in 2001. Freelancers Union has created a portable benefits delivery system, linking benefits to individuals rather than to employers, so independent workers can maintain benefits as they move from job to job and project to project.

In addition to providing a somewhat flexible safety net in the form of portable benefits, the organization tries to increase the visibility of independent workers, bringing issues that concern freelancers to the attention of media and policy makers. From tax relief (independent workers bear a greater tax burden than traditional employees) to unemployment and worker’s compensation, Freelancers Union advocates for legal reform on these issues. Freelancers Union also provides its members with online tools, business management information, networking opportunities, group discount terms with various vendors or partners, and other assistance in working successfully as independents. Membership is free of charge, as is members' access to the Union's meetings, tools and basic information. But members pay fees for certain events, seminars and other services, as well as premiums if they elect to buy health insurance through the Union.

Sara Horowitz, founder of the Freelancers Union, does not believe in a Canadian-style single-payer health care system, she said on WNYC's radio program, the Brian Lehrer show. She believes that individuals should be able to buy insurance through groups like the Freelancers Union that would give them bargaining power against insurance companies. They should get assistance through vouchers or a refundable tax credit if they can't afford it.

Under the labor laws, the Freelancers Union can't engage in collective bargaining over wages or working conditions because it is not a real union. The entertainment unions can today, because they were grandfathered in. Collective bargaining Horowitz sees as a "moment in history", as she told Lehrer. Judging by listener phone calls, Lehrer suggested that, the biggest problem freelancers had with the Freelancers Union (at the time, in 2007) was that they couldn't meet the organization's definition of freelancer, which requires that they work at least 20 hours a week in one of seven industries typically associated with independent workers.