Freelancers Union

Last updated
Freelancers Union
Established1995
Type Non-profit organization
Legal statusActive
Headquarters New York City, United States
Executive Director
Rafael Espinal [1]
Website www.freelancersunion.org

Freelancers Union is a nonprofit organization based in New York City that provides advocacy, programming and curated insurance benefits for freelancers through partnerships. The organization dessiminates information through monthly meetings. Rafael Espinal [2] became executive director and president in January 2020.

Contents

The Freelancers Union is not a trade union nor is it associated with one.

Membership

As of 2013, more than half of the 500,000 nationwide members lived in New York State. [3] They included freelancers, consultants, independent contractors, temps, part-timers, contingent employees, and those who were otherwise self-employed. This segment of workers makes up one-third of the American workforce. [4] Nearly 25,000 people have purchased insurance through the organization's former Freelancers Insurance Company. [5]

Note: The use of "members" is not accurate as the Freelancers Union does not collect membership dues, but is free to join. [6] Without dues, there is no membership list. It can not be ascertained outside of the Freelancers Union site that the nonprofit has any official members.

History

Working Today, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, launched Freelancers Union in 2001 to address the need for health care insurance for workers in nontraditional arrangements. Sara Horowitz founded Working Today 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, Horowitz was a labor law attorney in private practice and a union organizer with SEIU 1199, the National Health and Human Service Employees Union. [7]

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 also provides its members with online tools, business management information, networking opportunities, group discount terms with various vendors or partners, and other assistance in working successfully as independents. Membership is free of charge, as is members' access to the union's meetings, tools and basic information. Members pay fees for certain events, seminars and other services, as well as premiums if they elect to buy health insurance through the union.

In 2003, a re-branding of Working Today’s Portable Benefits Network was launched. The new “pilot” program, called The Freelancers Union, offers freelancers membership services like affordable health care, life insurance, and a forum for discussion on what freelancing is like in the current economy. Though freelancers could not officially unionize, the group worked to provide a “collective” platform for advocacy, and it was geared to appeal specifically to its namesake: freelancers. By 2012 the Freelancers Union had a marketing campaign directed at freelancers in New York City, using slogans that invoked both justice and individualism. [7]

Freelancers Insurance Company (FIC) was founded in 2008. To create it, Horowitz needed to persuade investors to put up $17 million. The Rockefeller Foundation and others gave $7 million in grants, and additional foundations joined in, agreeing to lend the rest at a 3 percent interest rate.” [3] FIC began offering health insurance to members of Freelancers Union on January 1, 2009. As a fully-licensed insurance company in the state of New York, FIC sold a group insurance policy to Freelancers Union, thereby covering eligible members of Freelancers Union living in New York. FIC offered 5 health plan designs, including three copay-based designs and two high deductible plans. All plans were PPOs (including out of network coverage) using a nationwide network provided through BlueCross BlueShield. Freelancers could enroll in an FIC plan by first demonstrating to Freelancers Union that they met certain criteria – continuing the same process that had been in place for years under Freelancers Union's Portable Benefits Network.

A newly-formed political action committee made its political debut in September 2009. Canvassing potential candidates via questionnaire in order to find the right people to align and endorse. “We started the PAC because if you want to change you have to be politically involved." [8]

The “Get Paid, Not Played” Campaign was launched in October 2010 and marked the Freelancers Union’s latest effort to publicize the repercussions of late or lack of payment to freelancers. The World’s Longest Invoice campaign followed, a tandem effort to create publicity in order to pass the “Freelancer Payment Protection Act, which [gives] the self-employed many of the same remedies for non-payment that regular employees now have, including the right to file grievances with the state department of labor." [9]

The Freelancers Union-funded medical clinics opened in 2013. The spaces were created to function ”as the first medical home and serve members of the Freelancers Union Insurance Company." [10] With yoga, iPads and no co-pays and deductibles, the 408 Jay Street clinic, housed in a renovated 6,000 square-foot building, offered same-day services, nutrition and cooking classes as well as text messaging communications from doctors.

The Freelancers Union created the National Benefits Program that same year with a 2014 launch, a program providing “a curated selection of health insurance options for freelancers across the country." [11] This new tool, the first of its kind, allowed freelancers to search by zip code for benefits such as “401k plan, dental insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, liability insurance and health insurance that are available to independent workers in their area." [7] Health insurance was scheduled to become available via platform in all 50 states by “the November national enrollment period." [12] At the end of 2014, Freelancers Insurance Company ended offering insurance coverage.

In 2016, Uber announced a new “groundbreaking agreement to bring needed supports to Uber drivers in New York City." [13] A new association, The Independent Driver’s Guild, ”was created to “push for labor protections for the company’s independent contractors.” The Freelancers Union was chosen to “advise Uber on strategies for building a nationwide portable benefits platform for drivers, bringing safety net protections to tens of thousands of hardworking men and women." [14]

Policy

Sara Horowitz, Freelancers Union's founder, does not believe in a Canadian-style single-payer health care system, she said on WNYC's radio program, The Brian Lehrer Show.[ why? ] [15] She believes that individuals should be able to buy insurance through groups like the Freelancers Union that would give them bargaining power with insurance companies. They should get assistance through vouchers or a refundable tax credit if they cannot afford it, she insists.

Under federal labor laws, the Freelancers Union cannot engage in collective bargaining over wages or working conditions because it is not a certified union. The entertainment unions can today, because they were grandfathered in. Collective bargaining is a "moment in history", as Horowitz told Lehrer. Judging by listener phone calls, Lehrer suggested that the biggest problem freelancers had with the Freelancers Union (at the time, in 2007) was that they could not meet the organization's definition of freelancer, which requires that they work at least 20 hours a week in one of seven industries typically associated with independent workers.

Honors

Working Today – Freelancers Union was recognized in 2004-2006 as a leading social entrepreneur by Fast Company magazine. [16]

In 2013, Horowitz became a member of the New York Federal Reserve board. Chosen for the unique constituency the Freelancers Union represents economically, “Horowitz was appointed in 2013 as a Class C director and in 2014 she began to serve as deputy chair. As of 2017 she is a "Class C Director Chair." [17]

National benefits platform

Freelancers Union offers health insurance as a non-profit health insurance brokerage. In 2001, it created an infrastructure platform known as the Portable Benefits Network (PBN) which provides health insurance to independent workers,[ citation needed ] as well as offers life and disability insurance, financial services, resources, and discounts. In 2008, it replaced PBN with the Freelancers Insurance Company (a wholly-owned for-profit company) to offer insurance to its members.

In 2014, Horowitz announced a rebranding of the PBN at the Clinton Global Initiative now called the National Benefits Platform. [18]

Freelance contract

In 2017, the Freelancers Union launched the first standard freelance contract in collaboration with And Co. The contract is built around the Freelance Isn't Free Act , a New York City law passed to protect freelancers. [19] [20]

Criticism

Some traditional unionists say that Freelancers Union is an association, not a union, and so it will not be able to achieve significant gains for workers. Freelancers Union does not negotiate contracts with employers nor represent freelancers when they have grievances, and freelancers have no employee bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act. [3]

One of the main benefits that Freelancers Union provided for its members was health insurance, but they do not qualify for Obamacare. [21] [22] The cost of selling individual insurance requires more overhead than group insurance. "Policies that provide the exact same coverage to someone working for a large employer will cost more for an individual," says the Center for American Progress's website for college students. "Even worse, insurers can pick and choose preexisting conditions and then deny coverage for those deemed too costly to cover." A Center for American Progress fellow estimated the average difference in administrative costs alone to be $300 per year between individual and group insurance. [23] The Freelancers Union acknowledges those problems with the open market but asserts that its large-group bargaining power, its captive insurance company's obligation to grant coverage, and its non-profit marketing role all serve as effective remedies.

In January 2008, Freelancers Union was criticized by both its members and the press when its new Freelancers Insurance Company became the entity providing coverage to members. At that time, the Union dropped Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in favor of a range of new options, mostly more expensive, with Anthem BC/BS remaining only as claims processing agent. [24] Members then faced the complexity inherent in comparing the limits, exclusions, co-payments, co-insurance percentages, and annual and other deductibles of the various new options with those of the old plans. Throughout this process, some members were even inadvertently dropped altogether. [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act</span> United States federal law concerning health information

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1996. It aimed to alter the transfer of healthcare information, stipulated the guidelines by which personally identifiable information maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft, and addressed some limitations on healthcare insurance coverage. It generally prohibits healthcare providers and businesses called covered entities from disclosing protected information to anyone other than a patient and the patient's authorized representatives without their consent. The bill does not restrict patients from receiving information about themselves. Furthermore, it does not prohibit patients from voluntarily sharing their health information however they choose, nor does it require confidentiality where a patient discloses medical information to family members, friends or other individuals not employees of a covered entity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AARP</span> American nonprofit organization

AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. The organization, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., said it had more than 38 million members as of 2018. The magazine and bulletin it sends to its members are the two largest-circulation publications in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temporary work</span> Type of employment

Temporary work or temporary employment refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes called "contractual", "seasonal", "interim", "casual staff", "outsourcing", "freelance"; or the words may be shortened to "temps". In some instances, temporary, highly skilled professionals refer to themselves as consultants. Increasingly, executive-level positions are also filled with interim executives or fractional executives.

Freelance, freelancer, or freelance worker, are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance workers are sometimes represented by a company or a temporary agency that resells freelance labor to clients; others work independently or use professional associations or websites to get work.

An independent contractor is a person, business, or corporation that provides goods or services under a written contract or a verbal agreement. Unlike employees, independent contractors do not work regularly for an employer but work as required, when they may be subject to law of agency. Independent contractors are usually paid on a freelance basis. Contractors often work through a limited company or franchise, which they themselves own, or may work through an umbrella company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Cross Blue Shield Association</span> Federation of 36 separate United States health insurance organizations and companies

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, also known as BCBS, BCBSA, or The Blues, is a United States-based federation with 34 independent and locally-operated BCBSA companies that provide health insurance in the United States to more than 115 million people as of 2022.

Group insurance is an insurance that covers a group of people, for example the members of a society or professional association, or the employees of a particular employer for the purpose of taking insurance. Group coverage can help reduce the problem of adverse selection by creating a pool of people eligible to purchase insurance who belong to the group for reasons other than the wish to buy insurance. Grouping individuals together allows insurance companies to give lower rates to companies, "Providing large volume of business to insurance companies gives us greater bargaining power for clients, resulting in cheaper group rates." The concept varies internationally, with distinct practices and benefits in different countries, such as Canada and India. Additionally, group insurance policies can be either compulsory or voluntary, each with specific underwriting requirements and implications for coverage and premiums.

Misclassification of employees as independent contractors is the way in which the United States and other countries classify the problem of false self-employment. In the U.S., it can occur with respect to tax treatment or the Fair Labor Standards Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Horowitz</span> Non-profit executive

Sara Horowitz is a founder of the Freelancers Union and a proponent of mutualism. She has been working for unions since age 18, when she held a summer internship at the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. She has worked for the UAW, CSEA, and SEIU, and she currently serves on the board of the Albert Shanker Institute. Under her direction, the Freelancers Union built a first-of-its-kind Portable Benefits Network in 2004 and launched the Freelancers Insurance Company in 2009, which provided health insurance to more than 25,000 New York freelancers before it was closed in 2014. In her work, Horowitz advocates for the role of mutualist organizations, including unions, cooperatives, mutual aid groups, and faith-based groups, as the foundation for the next labor economy and social safety net in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stage Directors and Choreographers Society</span>

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), formerly known as Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC), is an independent national labor union established in 1959, representing theatrical directors and choreographers working on Broadway, National Tours, Off-Broadway, and in various resident, regional, and stock theatres throughout the United States.

In the United States, health insurance helps pay for medical expenses through privately purchased insurance, social insurance, or a social welfare program funded by the government. Synonyms for this usage include "health coverage", "health care coverage", and "health benefits". In a more technical sense, the term "health insurance" is used to describe any form of insurance providing protection against the costs of medical services. This usage includes both private insurance programs and social insurance programs such as Medicare, which pools resources and spreads the financial risk associated with major medical expenses across the entire population to protect everyone, as well as social welfare programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which both provide assistance to people who cannot afford health coverage.

TruStage Financial Group, Inc., formerly known as CUNA Mutual Group, is a mutual insurance company that provides financial services to cooperatives, credit unions, their members, and other customers worldwide. TruStage Financial Group sells commercial and consumer insurance and protection products. TruStage Financial Group provides retirement plan services to small businesses and credit union employees. The Madison, Wisconsin-based company also provides auto, home, life and loan protection products to credit union members through its TruStage brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Zane Pilzer</span> American economist

Paul Zane Pilzer is an American economist, New York Times best-selling author, and social entrepreneur. He has written 13 books, the founder of six companies, and has been profiled in more than 100 publications including on the front page of The Wall Street Journal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Covered California</span> Health insurance marketplace in California, U.S.

Covered California is the health insurance marketplace in the U.S. state of California established under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The exchange enables eligible individuals and small businesses to purchase private health insurance coverage at federally subsidized rates. It is administered by an independent agency of the government of California.

The sharing economy is a socio-economic system whereby consumers share in the creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods, and services. These systems take a variety of forms, often leveraging information technology and the Internet, particularly digital platforms, to facilitate the distribution, sharing and reuse of excess capacity in goods and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Rolf</span> American labor leader

David Rolf is an American labor leader, writer, and speaker. He was the Founding President of Seattle-based Local 775 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents health care workers, and formerly served as international vice president of SEIU. He is the author of The Fight for Fifteen: The Right Wage for a Working America about the movement by low-wage workers to earn a higher minimum wage, and A Roadmap to Rebuilding Worker Power. Rolf was a founder of the Fair Work Center in Seattle, Working Washington, The Workers Lab in Oakland, and the SEIU 775 Benefits Group.

A platform cooperative, or platform co-op, is a cooperatively owned, democratically governed business that establishes a two-sided market via a computing platform, website, mobile app or a protocol to facilitate the sale of goods and services. Platform cooperatives are an alternative to venture capital-funded platforms insofar as they are owned and governed by those who depend on them most—workers, users, and other relevant stakeholders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gig worker</span> Independent on-demand temporary workers

Gig workers are independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers, and temporary workers. Gig workers enter into formal agreements with on-demand companies to provide services to the company's clients.

California Assembly Bill 5 or AB 5 is a state statute that expands a landmark Supreme Court of California case from 2018, Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court ("Dynamex"). In that case, the court held that most wage-earning workers are employees and ought to be classified as such, and that the burden of proof for classifying individuals as independent contractors belongs to the hiring entity. AB 5 extends that decision to all workers. It entitles them to be classified as employees with the usual labor protections, such as minimum wage laws, sick leave, and unemployment and workers' compensation benefits, which do not apply to independent contractors. Concerns over employee misclassification, especially in the gig economy, drove support for the bill, but it remains divisive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 California Proposition 22</span> Gig economy workers employment status ballot initiative

Proposition 22 was a ballot initiative in California that became law after the November 2020 state election, passing with 59% of the vote and granting app-based transportation and delivery companies an exception to Assembly Bill 5 by classifying their drivers as "independent contractors", rather than "employees". The law exempts employers from providing the full suite of mandated employee benefits while instead giving drivers new protections:

References

  1. Lewis, Rebecca C. (May 21, 2021). "City Council District 37 race readies for a rematch". City & State New York. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  2. "Rafael Espinal - Freelancers Union".
  3. 1 2 3 Greenhouse, Steven (March 24, 2013). "Tackling Concerns of Independent Workers". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 Nov 2014.
  4. "Best&Brightest 2002: The Big Idea, Insurance for Everyone". Esquire. Archived from the original on 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
  5. Laskow, Sarah (1 Oct 2014). "Freelancers insurance evolves, again (and again)". www.capitalnewyork.com. Retrieved 30 Nov 2014.
  6. "Freelancers Union Home Page".
  7. 1 2 3 Abrahamian, Atossa Araxia (2012), "The 'I' in Union", Dissent Magazine, retrieved 2022-07-17
  8. "Freelancers Union Political Action Fund (2014)". us-campaign-committees.insidegov.com. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
  9. Anne Fisher. "A Freelance Dilemma: How to Get Paid Not Played". Fortune. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  10. "The first medical center just for freelancers is coming to Brooklyn". Brokelyn.com. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  11. "Freelancers Union". FreelancersUnion.org. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
  12. "A New Safety Net For Freelancers". Forbes. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  13. "What the Uber agreement with the IAM means for NYC drivers". Freelancers Union Blog. 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
  14. "What the Uber agreement with the IAM means for NYC drivers". Freelancers Union Blog. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  15. "The New "U"". WNYC: The Brian Lehrer Show. National Public Radio. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
  16. "Sara Horowitz | Government Innovators Network". www.innovations.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  17. "Board of Directors - Federal Bank of New York". www.newyorkfed.org. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  18. "Everything freelancers need to know about health insurance". Freelancers Union Blog. 2014-11-11. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  19. Dishman, Lydia (2012-02-22). "At last: a standard contract to protect freelancers". Fast Company . Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  20. Wong, Kristin (24 February 2017). "This Tool Helps You Create a Freelance Contract". Lifehacker . Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  21. Hartocollis, Anemona (September 30, 2014). "Freelancers Union to End Its Health Insurance Plans in New York". The New York Times.
  22. Paul, Ari (October 2014). "A Union of One: The Freelancers Union treats workers like consumers of the services they provide. It doesn't deserve to be called a union". Jacobin.
  23. "The Freedom to Write". campusprogress.org. Center for American Progress. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  24. "Freelancers Balk at a Change in Health Benefits". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  25. "Freelancers Union Health Benefits SNAFU Has Members Fuming". Gawker. Archived from the original on 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2011-11-18.