Freelancers Union
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Freelancers Union is a non-profit organization in the United States that represents the needs and concerns of the independent workforce through advocacy, information, and service.
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[edit] Mission
Best known for its insurance offerings, Freelancers Union provides low-cost health, dental, disability, and life insurance to more than 12,000 independent workers in New York. Independent workers are 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. To address their needs, 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.
Freelancers Union exists for two primary reasons: to provide a flexible safety net in the form of portable benefits, and to increase the visibility of independent workers. The social safety net that followed FDR’s New Deal consisted of employer-based benefits, most crucially health and disability insurance and savings for retirement. That system does not meet the needs of the freelance workforce. Freelancers Union aims to provide a new, flexible safety net, by linking benefits to the individual rather than to the employer. The organization’s second core value, increasing visibility, consists of 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 issues of importance to its constituents.
Sarah 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. [1] Individuals should be able to buy insurance through groups like the Freelancers Union that would give them bargaining power against insurance companies, she said. 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, said Horowitz. The entertainment unions can today, because they were grandfathered in. But collective bargaining was a "moment in history", she told Lehrer.
Judging by listener phone calls, said Lehrer, the biggest problem freelancers had with the Freelancers Union was that they couldn't meet the Union's definition of freelancer, which requires that they work at least 20 hours a week in one of seven industries.
[edit] History and Honors
Sara Horowitz founded Working Today, the parent organization of Freelancers Union, in New York City in 1995, in order to represent the needs and concerns of the growing independent workforce. Before founding Working Today – Freelancers Union, executive director Horowitz was a labor attorney in private practice and a union organizer. In recognition of her efforts to create a self-sustaining organization of flexible workers, Horowitz was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1999. In 1996, the Stern Family Fund named her a Public Interest Pioneer, and she was also an Echoing Green fellow for four years. Recently she was named as one of Esquire Magazine’s Fifty Best & Brightest and received a community development award from the New York Mayor’s Office.
Working Today – Freelancers Union was recognized in 2004 and 2006 as a leading social entrepreneur by Fast Company magazine.
[edit] Activities
Based on research indicating that independent workers' greatest concern was health care, Freelancers Union decided to offer health insurance by becoming a non-profit health insurance brokerage. In 2001, Freelancers Union created an infrastructure platform known as the Portable Benefits Network (PBN). The PBN provides health insurance to independent workers at less than half the price of average HMO premiums in the individual market in New York City, and also offers life and disability insurance, financial services, resources, and discounts. As of June 2006, nearly 12,000 independent workers receive benefits through the PBN and several thousand more advocacy members have registered to support Freelancers Union's mission.
With the PBN platform in place, Freelancers Union is expanding to become a full service association for the independent workforce. In August 2006, Freelancers Union launched a web portal with new services available to freelancers anywhere in the US, including job postings, message boards, and member profiles. In addition, Freelancers Union continues to mobilize members to advocate for benefits and legal protections.
Members of Freelancers Union receive discounts with partner organizations including Zipcar, Staples, YMCA, Theater Development Fund (TDF), and legal services. Freelancers Union also programs a series of educational events, focusing on tax, legal, and financial topics for independent workers.
