NWU at NABJ

I attended the National Association of Black Journalists event in Chicago July 31-August 4, where I talked to about two dozen attendees about joining NWU and handed out lots of our new buttons and flyers about the Freelance Worker Protection Act that went into law in IL on July 1 (the most recent NWU-backed Freelance Isn’t Free legislation). I also wore a T-shirt I had designed with our new logo throughout the convention. 

At the career fair, I was in a group talking about NWU when I ran into Morgan Campbell and Andreas Hale, two journalists who were part of the NWU campaign to get 45 Ebony freelancers paid more than $80,000 in 2018. Morgan and Andreas spoke glowingly about NWU and that fight-back, which NABJ was also a part of. NABJ welcomed NWU and the freelancers we were representing to their convention in New Orleans that year, and gave Ebony the “Thumbs Down” award. Other attendees really seemed to respond to the fact that NWU fights to get freelance media workers paid what they are owed, as well as fighting for legislation to end non-payment and late payment, which disproportionately affects workers of color. 

In a session for freelancers, panelist Anita Samuels gave NWU multiple shout-outs as being a great resource for writers. At the close of the session, I tried to add how NWU helps people with their contracts and the range of ways we support writers, but did not get called on to speak. On Sunday, long-time Chicago member Karen Ford treated me to brunch!