Every working person has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. As freelance writers and authors, we’ve seen gigs fall through, projects put on hold, and book tours canceled as the world does all it can to stop the spread. If we fall ill, we have no employee benefits to help us cover that lost […]
CARES Act Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for Freelancers
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) is an act that makes independent contractors/self-employed individuals eligible for up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits under some circumstances, through December 31, 2020. The PUA program will be in effect as of January 27, 2020, and workers will be eligible for retroactive benefits. Eligibility for Benefits […]
What Writers Should Know About AB5
On January 22, NWU and the Authors Guild held a panel on “What Writers Should Know About AB5 and Similar Laws to End Misclassification.” The speakers were Authors Guild Executive Director Mary Rasenberger, Staff Attorney of the Employment Unit of the Legal Aid Society, Richard Blum, and NWU President Larry Goldbetter. You can see the […]
Freelance Solidarity Project Update
This fall, the Freelance Solidarity Project elected its first ever organizing committee, made up of 12 members who will spend the next year helping digital media freelancers organize and fight for better working conditions. Last Friday, the committee hosted its first happy hour, welcoming members and non-members alike to the midtown bar Faces and Names […]
House of Representatives Passes Copyright Small Claims Bill
On October 22, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the “Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019” (CASE Act), H.R. 2426, by a vote of 410 to 6: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2426 The NWU along with many creators’ groups and the member organizations of the Authors Coalition of America endorsed the CASE Act. The NWU submitted detailed […]
NWU Testimony at the NY Senate Committee Hearing on the Dependent Worker Act
Thank you to Senator Savino and the Standing Committee on Internet and Technology for inviting me to testify today. My name is Larry Goldbetter and I am the President of the National Writers Union/Local 1981 of the United Auto Workers Union (UAW). We are a nation-wide amalgamated local of freelance writers, representing writers in all […]
Why We’re Backing AB-5
NWU supports the passage of Assembly Bill-5 (Worker Status: Employees and Independent Contractors). AB-5 is legislation in California designed to end employee misclassification and to bring the protection of state and federal labor law to the millions of workers who are currently deprived of it. AB-5 will require multi-billion dollar corporations to respect those labor […]
A Novel Discussion in D.C.
NWU members and authors Bill Fletcher Jr. and Tim Sheard enjoyed a provocative discussion July 16 about storytelling and social justice at the Busboys & Poets Takoma bookshop in the Washington D.C. area. Moderator Kurt Stand asked Fletcher, who is the author of The Man Who Fell From the Sky, and Sheard, who wrote One Foot in […]
Our Future to Write and Own
My favorite old union song has always been “Solidarity Forever.” It never fails to inspire and remind me of the power that working people have when they come together to rewrite the rules of our broken economy. This lyric, from Ralph Chaplin’s original, I find particularly moving: All the world that’s owned by idle drones […]
Conference Seeks to Bolster Global Worker Rights
The International Labor Organization (ILO) renewed a Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work on June 21 in Geneva, Switzerland. The event coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Conference, where the organization adopted a new international Convention against violence and harassment at work, while vowing to hold governments accountable for violations. Sharan Burrow, general […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- …
- 15
- Next Page »
NWU is the sole provider of IFJ Press Passes to freelance journalists in the U.S.