Freelance Writing & Business Communication

If staff at a newspaper go on strike, what do freelancers do?

If full-time reporters at the Globe & Mail go on strike and you have been freelancing for G&M what do you do:

• suspend services?
• provide the same level of writing services?
• provide more if asked?
• actively seek to write more for the publication?

As a freelance writer, you are not on strike. And the fact is, the union is not fighting for you or any issues that relate to your life as a freelancer.

So what do you do?

The union would actually like to see the Globe and Mail get rid of freelancers and hire more full-time staff.

(I am not claiming this is being negotiated in this contract but it is a common position at all newspaper and other media guilds. I have lost work at the Toronto Star on more than one occasion because of this. Note: I am not angry or bitter. Trust me, I have moved on – way on.)

Even though unions would prefer that freelancers not be hired, when they go on strike they seek the support of people they would like to get rid of.

Two-way street, no?

Having said all that, I have not been asked to supply more material to the G&M than I normally do. (I have received an e-mail from a union rep asking me not to do so.) If asked to write any or additional material for the Globe and Mail, I am not sure what I will do. I don’t mind admitting that it’s a quandary for me – one worth thought and discuss.