Freelancers Union Represents Pioneering New Chapter in
Labor Organization For The Modern Worker

New York City Ad Campaign To Kick Off Non-Profit Organization's Expanded Efforts To Provide
Health Benefits, Advocacy and Services For The Country's Fastest-Growing Workforce -
More Than 30 Million Nationwide and 1.3 Million in New York City Alone

NEW YORK CITY - On May 1st, 2003, in a major step forward in labor organization for the modern worker, Working Today is set to introduce Freelancers Union, which will provide vital health benefits, advocacy and services for independent workers-the nation's fastest-growing workforce. Formerly known as the "Portable Benefits Network," Freelancers Union will serve as the advocacy and benefits arm of Working Today, the seven-year-old New York-based nonprofit that addresses the needs and concerns of independent workers. It will also act as crucial interactive information and product resource for the 1.3 million part-time, contract and temporary workers in New York City, who represent approximately 30% of the city's total workforce. Initially, Freelancers Union will offer membership and services to New York's freelance community, while serving as a pilot program that may be expanded to address the needs of the more than 30 million solo workers outside the New York area and across the country.

The organizational name change, signaling an increased level of services for this too-often overlooked group of workers, will be heralded by a major, citywide advertising campaign that illustrates the perils of "Middle Class Poverty." This advertising campaign, created by Cliff Freeman and Partners, has been targeted to reach the appropriate demographic who will most benefit from Freelancers Union pioneering efforts on their behalf. The campaign has been designed to increase the membership of Freelancers Union, which currently stands at 2,000 with more than 250 members joining each month.

As conceived by Working Today's Executive Director, Sara Horowitz, Freelancers Union offers workers a de facto "town hall," allowing them to come together for the first time as an important and powerful community-with specific and consequential needs. Affordable group-rate health insurance is a primary concern of Freelancers Union, as is an increased economic and political "voice" in New York's business and government affairs. Although freelancers can't actually "unionize" as a recognized body, the term in this case suggests a collective and unstinting effort in the areas of basic protections and benefits for a burgeoning national work category. In other words, as Ms. Horowitz puts it, "freelancers no longer have to go it alone."

Ms. Horowitz continues, "Freelancers Union will link freelancers to the benefits and services that they most need-those traditionally offered by companies to employees. In today's fluid and modern workplace, benefits need to be tied to individuals, not companies. Our services and programs are measurable steps towards a 'new' New Deal-the same rights and protections as full time employees of companies-for the independent workforce."

Working Today recently undertook a survey of more than 800 independent workers across the city. Independent and intermittently uninsured, nearly 65% of respondents indicated an inability to pay for health insurance based on their average yearly income. With low-cost (group rate) health care plans for workers in the Internet, nonprofit, arts, culture, media, entertainment and finance sectors, Freelancers Union speaks directly to the dire needs of independent and project-based workers. In partnership with more than 27 relevant associations, companies, unions, community groups and nonprofit institutions, Freelancers Union is building an unprecedented matrix of services. Among them are: local political advocacy; health insurance; life insurance; disability insurance; and, financial and investment counseling.

Ms. Horowitz and her team at Working Today believe that given the current volatile economic environment, "today, more than ever, there is a pressing need to address the very real concerns of the independent worker. More and more workers every day are forced into what we call 'permalance' or contract positions. As a result," Ms. Horowitz continues, "these professionals are forced to give up the myriad benefits and security associated with long-term employment."

Larry Cohen, Executive Vice President of the Communications Workers of America says, "Freelancers Union builds on past labor models-unions, mutual aid societies, and guilds-and adapts them for a thoroughly modern problem. It allows access to affordable health insurance, benefits and perhaps most importantly a link to the democratic process-all goals of traditional labor organizations."

To inaugurate their first advertising campaign, Freelancers Union has chosen the tagline "Welcome To Middle-Class Poverty," which underscores the plight of the often-invisible but ever-widening group of independent workers who can't afford health insurance and other services provided to permanent employees. The campaign also includes a new logo defining Freelancers Union as a strong and committed voice for workers who have heretofore been forced to seek individual help on a singular basis-without the benefit of a carefully constructed group effort. The campaign will include subway, newspaper, radio and online media buys.