6 August 2007 - 7:55am
A bloggers' labor union? Are you kidding me?
I thought this must be a joke.
In a move that might make some people scratch their heads, a loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers are trying to band together to form a labor union they hope will help them receive health insurance, conduct collective bargaining or even set professional standards....
"I think people have just gotten to the point where people outside the blogosphere understand the value of what it is that we do on the progressive side," said Susie Madrak, the author of Suburban Guerilla blog, who is active in the union campaign. "And I think they feel a little more entitled to ask for something now."
Ask for ... what? From whom? Where is the Standard Oil of the blogging world? Where are the exploited bloggers slaving away in sweat shops?
I like Susie's blog -- a whole lot more than some others -- but I think if bloggers wanted to form anything, a trade association might be more appropriate -- that is if you could find leaders exquisitely talented at herding cats.
media girl also blogs at other places.
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Comments
I don't get the "collective bargaining" thing, but the rest of it might make some kind of sense. They may just be trying to establish themselves as a professional group to qualify for group-rate health insurance and other benefits.
There are several freelance unions (the Editorial Freelancers Association and National Writers Union for writers, the Freelancers' Union for all self-employed workers, etc.) that do this. Becoming a professional voice and standards-setting organization is another achievable goal. You don't have to organize on the guild or shop model to be a union. There are other benefits unions provide besides collective bargaining.
What I said was, I wanted to see if bloggers could AFFILIATE with a union in order to get cheap health insurance - in other words, buy it through them. A trade association is exactly what I was talking about.
God, I hate the press.
What? The press actually got it wrong? I'm shocked!
/sarcasm
Thanks for clearing that up.