I am a union person.
I have belonged to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) for as long as I’ve been a freelance journalist.
The NUJ has got me out of a few scrapes over the past 20 years. Helped me claw back fee due from a national newspaper. Supported me when a publication dissed my rep.
I do not begrudge my union dues because they insure me for future grievances and in the meantime help some other poor bugger.
I know my history – without unions, workers would still be working a 12-hour day. (As many still do).
On the 22 and 23 October 2010, my local branch, the Bristol NUJ, asked: What’s the blogging story?
Research conducted for the union shows there are 20,000 workers in digital new media in the Bristol area.
Note: the term blogger here includes those creating online content.
As a union gal already paying union fees for my printed work, I would LOVE my online work to be covered too.
Several made the point that bloggers certainly help journalists: with their original and brave research, said Iqbal Tamimi; and with technical expertise, said Tomas Rawlings.
From a union’s point-of-view, thousands of unregulated online workers must be a dream. Both the NUJ’s fortune and its collective bargaining power would swell magnificently.
Mind you, some journalists are nervous of bloggers - many of whom work for nothing. So bloggers could be seen as undermining the profession.
Leaving that underlying tension aside, I wondered as a blogger whether union membership – being accredited by a professional body – might give visitors more confidence in a site.
Visitors could clearly see I subscribe to the NUJ Code of Conduct (although there is nothing stopping any writer adhering to it, I found out).
However – said the devil’s advocate in my mind – is not the point of today’s web that a blog is authenticated by its comments and the transparency of the blogger?
And HOW would the NUJ assess who is a digital worker, especially if he/she is an unpaid blogger?
(There is a precedent for a blogger becoming an NUJ member.)
Bloggers are a notoriously independent breed. Does belonging to a union undermine that spirit?
In response, Sarah Ditum pointed out the days of “happy anarchy on the web” may be numbered – digital workers would be wise to have union support, including access to legal training.
As you can see, this fascinating topic raises a host of questions.
Here are a few more.
Bloggers, can you think of situations where you might have welcomed union support? Even to combat the isolation of being freelance?
Or is a union anathema to bloggers?
Do bloggers need a union?
What do you think?
Interesting ideas there , thanks …
Unions don’t really work with these more modern ways of working if my experience of programming converts to blogging. These new methods are usually constructed by the workers themselves so rarely self oppressive and also because access to these mediums and their tools is so universal that people tend to make their own ball if an employer is too possessive of theirs.
I think bloggers could do with a guild instead of a union, this would be a body that represents their interests but doesn’t try to enforce any particular behaviour , lest it become a massive cat herding exercise . They could also offer specific professional insurance like the artists newsletter does.
You raise an important point. How can an occupation that is unpaid be unionized? The whole point of unions is that they have labor power, which translates into the power to strike, which causes harm to employers and forces them to negotiate with workers.
This goes to to heart of the new commerce on the internet. Start up businesses on the internet often don’t need a financial investment, but they do need an investment of time. For example, Facebook didn’t need an investment of physical assets.
Bloggers are investing their time often as an adjunct to an endeavor that is financially rewarding. For example, I use my blog as an archive of comments to my students as part of my paid job as online university professor. Others use blogs as promotions for their businesses. It’s true that some use blogs just to air their opinions, with no other goal.
So time. not money is the investment here. Under pre-internet capitalism, investment always equalled money as well as time. Money was always the commodity which measured exchange and use value of other commodities under capitalism.When money is not present, what then measures the commodity of one’s labor power? I am wrestling with these new economic realities. How would Marx have analyzed them?
Hi Elisabeth, I want to try and clarify some points. As a journalist and a union member the NUJ does cover your professional work online. The NUJ covers members working professionally across all platforms including digital, online and new media.
The NUJ is well aware of new media, and has a specific New Media sector and Industrial Council for new media members. The NUJ indeed wishes to recruit the thousands of online and new media workers, has prioritised this aim at its annual conference, and has already carried out research on the new media industry. There is a specific website for NUJ new media members:
http://www.nujnewmedia.org.uk/index.html
It seems very plausible that membership and accreditation by the NUJ and signing up to the NUJ Code of Conduct would give visitors more confidence in a site, which would in turn boost such a site’s audience figures and influence.
But you ask the key question “HOW would the NUJ assess who is a digital worker, especially if he/she is an unpaid blogger?” The point for trade unions including the NUJ is that people who aren’t paid are not classed as workers, and are not eligible to join a trade union. Trade unions are for people who trade, get paid, in their work and profession. The term journalist traditionally means someone who is paid to work as a journalist, a professional is someone who gets paid for the work they do.
Unpaid workers? I know there are arguments that much unpaid work, such as domestic work including childcare, unpaid carers, and voluntary work is an investment in time and effort, and should be valued more like paid employment, even having a monetary value put on it. But I am not sure that unpaid workers can legally be members of trade unions under current legislation, or how the different ethos of those who don’t even want to be paid would mix with those for whom their pay and conditions are the major reason that they are a member of a trade union.
Some bloggers already blog as a direct part of their employment, eg. BBC blogs. Others do it as a part of their freelance work. The NUJ’s own rules state that “The union shall consist of journalists, including photographers, creative artists working editorially in newspapers, magazines, books, broadcasting, public relations and information, and electronic media; or as advertising and fashion photographers, advertising copywriters, editorial computer systems workers”. This is a broad definition of journalism.
Additionally the NUJ rules are that if you get at least half your income from journalism (as defined above) and have no other full-time job then you can be a Full member of the union. There is also an additional category of Temporary membership. This states that if you are a new entrant to journalism or returning to journalism and can prove you are seeking to establish or re-establish yourself as a full-time freelance journalist without any other full-time paid occupation, then you can be a Temporary member. Your Temporary membership can be renewed annually for a maximum of three years, during which time you may apply for full membership. So the NUJ has some flexibility with regard to earnings.
Other issues the NUJ concentrates on include ethical standards in the media and press freedom, equality and anti-discrimination issues. The NUJ does not provide formal legal training. It provides legal advice to members, and legal assistance with some cases but that is at the discretion of the union. The NUJ does not provide legal assistance in defamation cases which includes libel. So being an NUJ member does not make you immune from legal action for libelling someone. But there is a discount to members for a professional indemnity insurance policy which covers defamation.
To be a member of the NUJ you have to work professionally in journalism as either freelance or staff. Not all journalism involves blogging, and not all blogging is journalism. People who blog personally or as part of other types of work are not eligible to join. So though Phillippa has a blog for her university work she is not eligible to join the NUJ on that basis, unless her academic work is directly about journalism.
Money is a means of measuring value. Employers and publishers need people to work for them, but they can only persuade them to do so if they pay them, value given in exchange for value received. An individual withdrawing their labour has far less impact on an employer than a group of workers, and that is why unions exist, because acting together we have far more leverage to negotiate and stand up for our rights.
But if the ethos of blogging is so individualistic, will bloggers ever feel able to act together and be part of a union? Journalists are known for their independence. But tens of thousands want to be union members.
Hi Simon
Thanks for your instructive comment.
Just briefly: does the NUJ cover my work online even when my blogging is NOT part of my paid professional work?
I am paid as a freelance web editor for Saint Stephen’s.
However, this blog and my Real Food Lover blog are independent of that role.
Rather both blogs are connected to my (freelance) work as a social media consultant and writer.
So, are they still covered?
Thanks, Simon
Elisabeth
Hi Elisabeth,
I did say that the NUJ covers members working professionally across all platforms, including online. I have now had further advice from the NUJ Freelance Office.
The important issue is what constitutes work. The primary function of trade unions is to represent members to their employers or clients. Someone who is doing a blog but not earning money from it would have difficulty describing it as work. There would be no employer or client to whom the NUJ could represent the member.
That leaves defamation and copyright issues. As previously stated, the NUJ does not provide legal assistance in cases of defamation to any member, whatever platform the work is published on. For copyright, as with other legal issues, the NUJ would only take on a case at its discretion.
However the view of the NUJ Freelance Office is that the Professional Indemnity insurance, available to NUJ members at a discount, would cover your blogs. Obviously one would need to read the policy carefully in detail. For more info please see:
http://www.londonfreelance.org/fl/0701libe.html
Hope this helps
Simon
I wanted to clarify something I wrote in my comment. Can labor be withdrawn if it is not paid? Of course it can. Slaves can refuse to work. But slaves can’t form unions, because unions are paid by the wages of labor.. That’ s why unions are the product of a paid labor force, not an unpaid one.
If bloggers are unpaid, should they form a union anyway? And if bloggers do go on strike, who will care? Bloggers are not indispensable to the economy.
Thanks Simon for your comment. It was very instructive. I want to clear up a point. I don’t think bloggers can be classified as unpaid workers as are carers in the home etc. That’s because unpaid house workers, parents etc., are indispensable to the economy, but bloggers are not. The ‘second shift’ at home has long been recognized as labor that should be paid. Venezuela has legislated for this, for example.
Gosh – what interesting points you raise! x
“Just briefly: does the NUJ cover my work online even when my blogging is NOT part of my paid professional work? ”
It really depends on what you mean by that. Once an individual joins the NUJ, they are the member of the union, not their job. Therefore, everything they do in a journalistic capacity would be in the context of them as a member of the NUJ.
In terms of the Code of Conduct, once you join the union, you agree to follow it. Quite simply, an arbitrary distinction between what you’re paid for and what you do on an upaid basis in relation to the Code is meaningless. If you, for example, posted on this blog something that was racist, you would be in breach of the code and another member would be entitled, under NUJ rules, to complain about you.
In terms of defence of copyright, if your content was ripped off by another site and you wanted to stop that happening, then you could ask the NUJ for help. Just because you give something away free doesn’t mean you don’t own it anymore. If you had an opportunity to license some of this content, say for a book, and had problems getting paid, again you’d be entitled to help.
Finally, as a member of the NUJ, you’d have the same rights to legal help as any other member in relation to protection of sources or other legal issues, should they come up.
The NUJ as a union has a lot of experience working outside the traditional workplace issues that unions are normally associated with. We have thousands of freelance members who don’t have a defined workplace where they work with other members. But the issues I’ve outlined above are among the things the NUJ does to help its members that keep those thousands of freelance members in the union. Not all of them are about the work you get paid for.
And to reiterate what Simon said, when we’re talking about bloggers and the NUJ, we’re primarily talking about those who post material for free on blogs with no expectation of getting paid. The NUJ has organised online journalists – those who are paid to write journalistic material for the web – since they were invented 12/13 years ago. I should know, I was one of the first in the union when I joined in 1998! And we’re not talking about people who are paid to blog either, despite all the fuss, there’s never been a barrier to their joining.
The issue really starts to arise as some bloggers start to make (some) money from their blogs and others start blogging with a view to start making some money in the near future.
Many thanks, Donnacha, for clarifying how my union can help me as a blogger.
The NUJ Code of Conduct means something, it can be invoked – satisfying.
And the issue of copyright defence is a crucial benefit for bloggers.
I liked : “Just because you give something away free doesn’t mean you don’t own it anymore.”
Thank you. I feel proud to be a NUJ member.
One question: “The issue really starts to arise as some bloggers start to make (some) money from their blogs…”
What issue? Sorry, I did not understand.
The issue of who can join? Or the issue of owing increased union fees because of earning more? (Which by the way is a happy thought).
Elisabeth
When I talk about bloggers and the NUJ, I am not talking primarily about those who post material for free with no expectation of getting paid. I have been talking about different types of blogging.
What I did say at one point, is that not all journalism involves blogging, and not all blogging is journalism.
There are bloggers and then there are bloggers. Some journalists blog professionally, either as part of paid employment or as freelances. Some journalists also blog in a personal capacity. Some other types of employed people blog as part of their job, so is that blog journalism? Other non-journalists may blog in a personal capacity.
Whether bloggers need a union depends I think on whether they are blogging in a professional capacity.
Hi Roz! Am off Facebook, so this is a good opportunity to say hi, and how are you. FB was so happy clappy. No one had problems, only cheeriness! Only Maude used it when she needed help. Even though it connected me with family and friends, I began to think it was a time-waster. Our son, 16, felt it prevented teenagers from getting together in person. Email is just as good to organize people politically, although it’s not as efficient as FB.
Sorry, to be clear, the issue of recruiting independent (ie. non-paid) bloggers as opposed to employed bloggers. Up to recently, the bloggers who met the membership rules were either those who had another journalistic job or those who were paid to blog – by AOL for example. Now we’re seeing some blogs make money directly from advertising or sponsorship and can join as full members. It’s more an issue for us to get our act together and get recruiting!
I stumbled across your interesting post and comment discussion via Bristol’s BlogCamp information. Sadly it looks like I’ve found out about it too late to attend, even though I live in Wiltshire.
There’s all kinds of bloggers: most do it for fun and pleasure, a few are full-time paid professionals and there’s all kinds in between.
Some like me, have a foot in both camps, having started out as a fun blogger and then finding their work is acknowledged as being of a good enough standard by professional writers (garden writers in my case). I’m now earning a small income via my blog and also picking up some freelance work both online and for magazines, but first and foremost I’m still regarded as a blogger rather than a journalist.
I’m still unsure whether I would qualify to join the NUJ, despite the discussion here, but I sure have some examples of where I would certainly have benefitted from the support and advice the NUJ gives. For example, content theft (both written and photographic) of online material is rife; is extremely time consuming both to monitor and follow-up; and is left to the individual to pursue and who may not have all the information to do this effectively either. I have other examples too, which I don’t feel I can share in public: at least one of these would be a familiar story to anyone trying to break into journalism.
Something is needed for bloggers, but whether it’s a union, or a guild of some sort as Amias suggests remains to be seen.
VP, you could join the NUJ as a Temporary member, if you can show examples of work you have had published as a freelance, whether online or in print. Contact the NUJ head office and ask about Temporary membership and for an application form.
The NUJ does have information and can help with pursuing content theft, which has become a major problem particularly online. They could also advise on other matters in confidence.