California’s Freelance Isn’t Free Bill

At a September 12, 2021, meeting of the SoCal NWU chapter, Jeff Jacobberger, who is the Legislative Director from the office of Bob Blumenfield, the L.A. City Council Member for the 3rd district.  He talked about the Freelance Isn’t Free Motion introduced in the L.A.City Council in early 2021; in August of this year it […]

October Panel on Organizing Journalists

SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday, October 19, 2021 The Metro NY Labor Communications Council will host a panel discussion on recent efforts to organize journalists in labor unions and/or non-traditional advocacy groups. These campaigns pose challenges and opportunities for those on staff as well as freelancers. Join Metro NY Labor and union leaders for an informative […]

A Year of Living Dangerously

In many ways, the past year has been a test for all of us and for our union. May 25 marked the one-year anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd and the anti-racist uprising that followed. The past year also featured the US Presidential election and the fascist storming of the US Capitol. It […]

BOOM! Studios Begins Work with #DisneyMustPay Task Force

For Immediate Release May 25, 2021 For More Information Kevin Lampe Kurth Lampe Worldwide (312) 617-7280 kevin@kurthlampe.com TaskForce@WritersMustBePaid.org BOOM! Studios Begins Work with #DisneyMustPay Task Force LOS ANGELES (May 25) – The #DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force is pleased to announce that BOOM! Studios have begun to work with them to achieve the Task Force’s goals […]

Graduated Payment Campaign

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on our livelihoods, the Freelance Solidarity Project is calling on all print and digital publications to adopt a graduated payment schedule and rapid-reimbursement policy for freelance work in progress since January 1, 2020. If a submission was assigned, filed, edited, or otherwise considered “in progress” this calendar year, […]

The Freelance Solidarity Project Calls for COVID-19 Graduated Payment Schedules

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on our livelihoods, the Freelance Solidarity Project is calling on all print and digital publications to adopt a graduated payment schedule and rapid reimbursement policy for freelance work in progress since January 1, 2020. If a submission was assigned, filed, edited, or otherwise considered “in progress” this calendar […]

Updates on Non-Payment Grievances

Consumers Digest: On June 2, a judge finally granted our Motion for Default Judgment after Consumers Digest failed to obtain new counsel to Appear on its behalf.  This case has dragged on for almost two years as deadbeat publisher Randy Weber seeks to avoid paying our 17 freelancers the $65,000 he owes them. Another hearing […]

Publishers Sue the Internet Archive for Scanning Books

On June 1, four major US commercial publishers sued the Internet Archive for “willful mass infringement” of copyrights by scanning books and distributing copies on the OpenLibrary.org and Archive.org websites, without any permission from, or payment to, the publishers or authors of the works included in those books.

IFJ North America Region Meets

IFJ’s North American Region met on May 13, to discuss and coordinate our response to the Covid/financial crisis facing our members and our industry.  The meeting included the participation of Unifor (Canada), NWU (US), TNG-CWA (US), NUJ (UK and Ireland), and the Deputy General Secretary of IFJ. To underline the gravity of the situation, the […]