The word ‘freelance’ describes a multiplicity of working relationships, and any discussion of how to improve the lives of freelance workers will inevitably require precise definitions.
Such variety of working relationships is matched by the range of problems experienced. Late payment of invoices, taxation and employment status will be common to all sectors of the industry.
My intention is to focus on dependent, vulnerable freelancers: dependent because they rely exclusively or almost entirely on one client to provide work; vulnerable because they have neither a statutory nor a contractual right to any period of notice or any severance payment.
Freelance journalists may be dependent upon one client in a number of ways. They might work ‘casual’ shifts several days per week over many years. They might work on a retainer contract, which is renewed year after year. They might write regular columns or supply regular features for a particular publisher.
No matter which of these descriptions applies, the problems faced will be identical. Stagnant or reduced fees; no entitlements when services are no longer required; contracts that are terrifyingly one-sided.
Workers described as ‘casual’ are common throughout the media industry, but even this term describes more than one way of working. At its most tenuous, the word ‘casual’ can refer to someone who works five days per week for many years for the same ‘employer’ without a contract of employment. This might look like employment, but when such a ‘casual’ is let go, establishing employment rights is far from simple.
Unfair contracts now proliferate. Freelancers are commonly asked to surrender their copyright, waive their moral rights and indemnify the client company. In some cases, the fee offered in return equates to an hourly rate that falls below the minimum wage.
Such contracts are routinely ‘offered’ by print and online publishers as well as broadcasters. Often, it is made clear to the freelance that negotiation will not be permitted and the contract is ‘offered’ on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.
An individual freelance does not possess bargaining power that can compare with News UK, the BBC or Time Inc., to name but a few.
If freelancers cannot retain the rights to their work, their income is further reduced and the incentive to work in a creative industry is greatly diminished.
From society’s point of view, the removal of moral rights denies citizens the possibility of knowing the source of the information they receive and whether it has been distorted during the editing process. This is a vital issue for democracy in the digital age.
The National Union of Journalists is campaigning for the introduction of the following measures:
1) The introduction of basic rights that would apply to all dependent workers, regardless of employment status;
2) Regulation of contracts to prevent corporations imposing onerous conditions on lone freelance workers;
3) An update of the ‘Fairness at Work’ legislation that will enable dependent freelance workers to negotiate their terms and conditions collectively through a trade union.
The creative industries rely on the flexibility and creativity that freelance workers provide. All of that is at risk if freelance workers are not able to obtain a fair deal.
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John Toner is a freelance organiser at the NUJ
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