A New American Labor Movement: The Decline of Collective Bargaining and the Rise of Direct Action by William E. Scheuerman

Author:William E. Scheuerman [Scheuerman, William E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Labor, Labor & Industrial Relations, Political Science, Business & Economics, General
ISBN: 9781438485508
Google: okonEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 57285193
Publisher: SUNY Press
Published: 2021-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

The New Mutualism in Action: Insurance for Freelancers

The Freelancers Union promises to promote the interests of freelance workers through benefits, policy advocacy, and community, and they’ve done a great deal in each of these areas, particularly in helping to provide the much-needed benefits that freelancers lacked. As noted previously, Horowitz believed that the availability of affordable health insurance is the key to rebuilding the labor movement. Accordingly, within a few years of its founding, Working Today joined with twenty-three other organizations to form an affordable group health insurance network, which also offered disability and life insurance. The union’s participation in the group insurance project did not come easily. Under New York law, Working Today was not eligible to purchase group insurance. The organization didn’t employ the people it wanted to cover, its members performed an array of diverse services, and it wasn’t a traditional union.59 But as Martha King observes, Horowitz successfully persuaded the New York State Insurance Commission that Working Today met the state’s legal criteria required of organizations participating in reduced-rate group insurance programs.60 A United Hospital Fund report subsequently characterized the agreement between the Freelancers Union and the state insurance department as “an unusual arrangement.”61 Nevertheless, in 2001 Freelancers Union’s members had access to health insurance below the private market rate, and the union had a steady stream of income. Members could also buy dental and vision coverage at discounted rates.62

In November 2008, Horowitz announced that the Freelancers Union was going into the health insurance business. Assisted by foundations, including the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the Freelancers Union dropped a previous arrangement with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield and launched the Freelance Insurance Company (FIC) with the promise of better coverage and lower premiums. Available only to members in New York, the plan took some members by surprise and initially generated a good deal of criticism. Dissenters even formed their own website (upsetfu.blogspot.com) and wrote an open letter to Horowitz complaining that she had failed to consult with union members, had justified changing the health plan by nebulous promises of future benefits, had failed to negotiate with the previous provider, and did not provide comparison between the former plan and the new.63 Horowitz responded that “anything new you start is going to be messy.” Besides, she continued, “This is a long-term proposition.” Now that the Freelancers Union has its own insurance company, it has much greater control over costs, especially since it no longer must pay a fee to outside insurance providers. At least one freelancer concurred, happily announcing that she was saving almost $1,000 monthly with Freelancers Union’s new plan.64 Many others apparently agreed, too. Within the first several weeks of the announcement, about 8,000 members joined the plan.

In 2011, the FIC was certified as a B corporation by B Lab for meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Despite receiving the honor associated with a B corporation certification, the FIC was not without problems. One was the open hostility of some outside the organization who opposed any challenges to private health care systems.

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