Today, the National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981 is withdrawing from the boycott of the Huffington Post, which began after it was acquired by AOL for $315 million last February. NWU and The Newspaper Guild-CWA have been electronic picket captains with the support of many, many progressive writers, bloggers and organizations. For now, the boycott has run its course.

But the NWU is continuing and intensifying our Pay The Writer! campaign to establish fair pay rates for freelance journalists working for the Huffington Post and other online publications. On October 11, we held our first national event, a live-streamed panel discussing the future of online freelance journalism (video of the event is available here). We will continue to organize around these principles:

• Freelance journalists working for for-profit, multi-million dollar online publications should get paid.
• If you cover the news for anybody, you should get paid;
• If you take on assignments, with an editor, you should get paid.
• Occassional contributions by writers, educators or activists who are promoting a book or a cause could be unpaid and that fact should be acknowledged at the end of the article.
• Frequent and regular contributors should be paid.

Writers create more than content. We create value and wealth. Just ask Arianna Huffington. Working without pay should not be the expectation of online publications – or online writers.  Quality journalism must be justly compensated.

Today we are in touch with hundreds more writers than we were when we started, and some are joining NWU. Over the coming months our organizing drive will become more active and visible, as hundreds and then thousands of freelance writers add their collective knowledge and wisdom to this campaign. We are confident we are gathering the forces that will make Pay The Writer! a reality. Sign up for campaign updates at www.PayTheWriter.org and follow us on Twitter @PayTheWriter.

Photos courtesy of jackomo

Today, the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) announced their official endorsement of the Occupy Wall Street movement for economic and political justice.  Citing the long overdue need to reorder America’s economic priorities, the UAW will commit resources and activate its membership nationally in support of reclaiming the American economy on behalf of working men and women, the poor, the elderly, the unemployed and our nation’s youth.

 “America is not broke,” said UAW President Bob King, “We have the resources to turn our economy around.  The courage and determination of the Occupy Wall Street movement has galvanized generations of Americans fed up with corporate greed and feeling powerless. They have a vision toward a more just, equal, and fair society- demanding real democracy.”

UAW members throughout the New York area have been participating in Occupy Wall Street, including the demonstration against police brutality, the march across the Brooklyn Bridge, and participating in the occupation of Zucotti Park on the doorstep of Wall Street. Members in Massachusetts have been participating in the New York demonstrations as well as protests in Boston.

“We recognize the need to work together and learn from each other,” said Julie Kushner, UAW Region 9A Director. “The vitality, energy and dialogue growing from the Occupy Wall Street movement show the potential to organize, build power and win justice for the middle class.”

 “Our members in New York and throughout the region are activists and deeply committed to building a coalition-based movement. Fighting for jobs and economic justice and demanding that millionaires pay their fair share is something we are proud to be a part of in the Occupy Wall Street movement,” Kushner added.

Occupy Wall Street has also been endorsed by UAW Region 9A, which encompasses Eastern New York including New York City, the New England States, and Puerto Rico; the UAW New York Area CAP Council; and the UAW Massachusetts CAP Council. 

On Saturday September 10, 2011, several members joined with hundreds of other UAW members marched in the NYC Labor Parade

In mid-August, hundreds of UAW women (and a handful of union brothers) gathered at the beautiful The Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center in northern Michigan for the annual Women’s Conference. At the opening night right after we arrived, UAW President Bob King was the keynote speaker. He spoke with passion about the work ahead, to defend working people’s democratic right to organize and demand a fair share of the wealth that they create. He also warned about the specter of progressives sitting out the next election because they are so frustrated and disappointed with President Obama and the nightmare of what could come in his place now that the Tea Party is so strong and the Supreme Court has opened the door to right wing money pouring into campaigns.

 We also heard the next morning from UAW Vice President and Woman’s Program Director Cindy Estrada, who asked the attendees to stay engaged and get active in the 2012 campaign. Those of us who tuned into public radio on our scratchy hotel alarm clock radios heard Estrada the next morning at a press conference denouncing the Michigan Governor who is demanding $206 million from public union members there.