The Writer’s Well

Just say no to a blogger’s union. There are already plenty of union options for bloggers ( I belong to a freelance writer’s union, but there are also small business options and creative professional groups you can join.). Joining a union won’t magically give you benefits, earn you more money or make you a better, more sought after blogger. What it will do is tank a versatile free market online and defeat the very principals and practices that make the web strong. For example, I pay for benefits out of pocket like any other freelance business. I could use the health option provided by my union at a sightly reduced rate but the discount isn’t that much and you get less services, so I go with a private carrier as a business.

Other bloggers who know more about unions and how they work have made more valid points against a union than I ever could:

From Scalzi, published writer and blogger

From Cyndy, freelance writer and expert in Web 2.0

From the Daily Whim

and from Gawker, who said it best:

We are about as pro-union as possible (particularly in this day and age) and even we find this to be a remarkably stupid idea.
…
Jesus Christ. LABOR UNIONS ARE TACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS TO DEAL WITH MANAGEMENT, YOU UNEMPLOYED SADSACKS.

I agree! If I wanted to work in a unionized, stuffy, regulated environment I never would have started freelancing – I would have stayed in corporate hell. I say let’s make a coalition against the blogger union idea. Or if someone already has, point me to it so I can put a “hell no, we won’t join” type of banner on all of my blog sites. If you also wrote against the union idea, leave your link in the comment section for all to see.

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