Do Writers Have “Moral Rights”?

The idea that writers have “moral” rights with respect to our written work may seem strange to those who think of copyright in purely propertarian terms. They might wonder: What does morality have to do with property ownership? But our writing is more than intellectual property, and our rights to our work are more than […]

Tensions Mount at UN Commission on Status of Women

The tension was palpable at the annual meeting of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) March 13-24 in New York City, which the NWU’s Larry Goldbetter, Brigid O’Farrell, Rose Imperato and Amanda Robb attended. Much of the unrest at CSW’s 61st session stemmed directly from concerns about an increasingly hostile environment […]

Free Ahmet Sik and All Turkish Journalists Held in Jail

On February 3, NWU joined PEN America and the Indypendent at a press conference called by the Research Institute of Turkey (RIT), to demand the release of Ahmet Sik and all jailed Turkish journalists. Sik was arrested on December 30, 2016, and charged with spreading “terrorist propaganda” for a Tweet! He is among 144 journalists […]

NWU at Women’s March on Washington

About 50 members of the National Writers Union and our friends and family rose before dawn on January 21. We put on our pussy hats—or reasonable facsimile thereof—and climb aboard a fleet of UAW buses that formed a caravan from New York City down to the Women’s March on Washington. We demonstrated in support of […]

GSU Infringes on Writers’ Copyrights

In a “friend of the court” brief filed earlier this month, the NWU joined a diverse coalition of writers and photographers to oppose the wholesale scanning of books and journals that are being used for university classes without payment to the original authors or publishers. Instead of having students buy the books for their classes, […]

2016 Year in Review

All in all, it was a very busy year at NWU and we’re better off for it. The elections aside, we still have many challenges ahead, the main one being how to grow, be more active, and better serve our members while, at the same time, cutting back on spending. This is a perpetual riddle […]

International Solidarity, International Advocacy

In addition  to our international connections through the UAW, the NWU is affiliated with three international organizations specifically related to our work as writers. In November, I traveled to Europe to meet with them, representing the NWU at meetings of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the International Authors Forum (IAF), and the International Federation […]

French Law on “Out of Commerce” Books Struck Down

Acting on a lawsuit brought by French freelance authors and supported by the NWU, the European Union’s  Court of Justice has ruled that the French law permitting  distribution of digital copies of books deemed “out of commerce,” without the consent of the authors, violates their rights and is invalid. We think the court was correct […]

Getting Help With Grievances

If you haven’t been paid for your work, your publisher said one thing and did another, or your story was turned into a video game and you haven’t seen a dime, the Grievance and Contracts Division is here to help. We’ve won over $1.5 million for members since we started keeping records. But before you […]

Freelance Isn’t Free Becomes Law in NYC!

On October 27, the NY City Council passed the landmark Freelance Isn’t Free bill into law. With a vote of 51-0, the City Council made New York City the first in the U.S. to make non-payment to freelancers and independent contract workers a crime. NWU is a cosponsor of the bill and well aware of […]