Should Writers/Bloggers Unionize?

Aug 07 2007

I usually don’t talk about blogging here, because my writing is aimed more at scribes of fiction and poetry (and maybe even screenwriters). But this is an issue I can’t really ignore because it affects the blogging world, just the same as it affects the world of freelance writing. Some even argue they are one and the same.

The buzz around town is that bloggers (mainly the political ones) are strongly in favor of unionizing to offer them some sort of protection that is normally afforded to employees of large corporations. I think it speaks volumes at how far blogs have come in the last few years that this is a serious consideration now.

I remember, more than five years ago, hearing about these funny things called "blogs" and the opportunity they give the average Joe. Eager to join this community, I signed up on Blogger.com and tried to write about current events. Well, Blogger was still young and had lots of technical problems. I ended up getting frustrated with the whole thing and gave up. Fast forward a few more years, I started another personal blog on Blogger. That one lasted for a while until I finally stopped posting (for reasons I can’t even remember) and eventually deleted it.

But back to the question of unionizing. The argument can easily go either way. However, I tend to lean towards the idea that a union is probably a good thing for writers and bloggers alike.

Reasons to unionize
Given that most writers/bloggers are independent, I think there’s a strong need for some sort of protection. Unions offer that protection. Through a union, a writer can get health care, legal protection, networking opportunities, and a voice in an organization that had the interests of the writer/blogger in mind.

For example, if all freelance writers were unionized, and the large publishing houses decided to screw their authors over in some way, then the writers could formally strike and not give the publishing houses anymore work. Without authors to provide the books, even the largest of these publishing conglomerates would be brought to its knees. And, given that most publishing houses are struggling financially right now, it’d make the impact of a strike all the more potent.

But let’s look at the issue on a smaller scale. Let’s say a freelance writer had several articles published, and was never paid for the work (this seems to happen quite frequently), despite having a written contract that specified otherwise. With no union, that writer would be on his/her own to pay the legal fees to get the money. With a union, however, the writer would have the support of thousands of other writers and a pool of legal resources at his/her disposal. The union would put the writer in a position to be able to take on the publication on their own turf, without going bankrupt in the process.

The same arguments can be applied to bloggers. And I think bloggers, just by the nature of their work, are more open to legal trouble than a lot of other freelance writers. So a union could help level the playing field and give bloggers a chance to defend themselves fairly.

Reasons not to unionize
One of the fundamental ideas behind unions, is to protect workers from overzealous management that might be inclined to treat their workers unfairly. But writers/bloggers are their own bosses. So who do they need protection from?

Furthermore, there is a sense of freedom associated with being a blogger that, if they were to be unionized, could be lost. At least this is the argument posed by conservative blogger Mark Noonan in a recent Yahoo! article:

"We just go out there and write what is on our mind, damn the critics," he said. "To make a union is to start to provide a firm structure for the blogosphere and that would merely make the blogosphere a junior-league (mainstream media). … Get us a union and other ‘professional’ organizations and we’ll start to be conformist and we’ll start to be just another special interest."

Certainly food for thought. That would be counter-productive if the union got to be so large, and wield so much power, that it began to do the very thing it was started to prevent – erode the rights of bloggers and take away their independence (which many argue, and I agree, is at the heart of blogging).

Final thoughts
I support the idea of a union for bloggers. But I don’t think they need to re-invent the wheel. The National Writers Union is already ahead of the game:

"Bloggers are on our radar screen right now for approaching and recruiting into the union," said Gerry Colby, president of the National Writers Union, a local of the United Auto Workers. "We’re trying to develop strategies to reach bloggers and encourage them to join."

The NWU is already serving the interests of all writers, including those who work for newspapers and other publications. Personally, I think bloggers would fit right in at the NWU.

Right now the situation is still very fluid. But with blogs taking in a larger role in the independent media (especially politics) and being taken even more seriously by the mainstream population, it’s time writers and bloggers take their own protection seriously from people who want to take advantage of them.

Read the entire Yahoo! article here:
Bloggers consider forming labor union

Check out the National Writers Union (NWU) website here:
National Writers Union