National Writers Union Statement on the Assassinations of Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi

 

NWU Statement on the Assassinations of Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi

In solidarity with our sibling union the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), and in the strongest possible terms, the National Writers Union (NWU) condemns the assassinations of our comrades Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and photographer Rami al-Rifi on July 31, 2024. The pair were killed in an Israeli strike while covering events in al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City. The ongoing violence against journalists, with at least 157 killed so far according to PJS, not only threatens our colleagues who are providing essential coverage of the reality in the Middle East: It also represents the extreme end of a spectrum of retaliation faced by media workers around the world for coverage or speech that is critical of Israel. We urge all journalistic outlets and their unions, along with nonprofits dedicated to free speech, to denounce these gruesome assassinations.

Israel’s war on Gaza has been the deadliest for journalists in modern history. These killings are a blatant violation of the international law that is meant to protect journalists and ensure our freedom of work and the public’s right to know. At least 39,400 Palestinians have been killed — and likely tens of thousands more — in the genocide in Gaza, including children and disabled and aging individuals. Adding deaths from starvation and disease, themselves the product of Israeli policy, the total toll could exceed 186,000, according to an estimate published in The Lancet in July 2024. As Israel appears poised for further escalation, this time to a regional war, it is journalists — our colleagues — who are in the crosshairs, answering the call to report on this violence and designated as targets by an unscrupulous military bent on covering up its crimes.

As a U.S.-based union, we have a duty to highlight that these continuing violations of international law would not be possible without billions of dollars in U.S.-supplied weapons and the support of U.S. political leaders in both parties, as reaffirmed by last week’s meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. NWU joins seven major U.S. unions and a growing movement of workers around the world to demand that our government stop arming Israel now.

Solidarity needed: Freelance photojournalist Linda Tirado and her family need help covering the costs of her hospice care

The National Writers Union, the National Press Club and others are asking for our solidarity in helping freelance writer Linda Tirado:

Club urges members to donate for Aubuchon winner's hospice care
Rachel Oswald
rachelm.oswald@gmail.com

The National Press Club is grieved to learn that freelance photojournalist Linda Tirado, the recipient of the Club's 2020 domestic John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, is dying and has entered hospice care as a result of injuries sustained during her coverage of the Minneapolis protests surrounding the killing of George Floyd.

Club President Emily Wilkins is in contact with Linda and working on a way to honor her legacy. Club members are encouraged to make a donation to Linda to cover the costs of hospice care.

Donations can be sent through Venmo (Linda-Tirado-3), PayPal (Bootstrapindustries@gmail) and Zelle (806.433.6075).

Linda Tirado

“We send our love and admiration to Linda Tirado, a freelance photojournalist, who we learned today has entered a hospice in Tennessee. We are also sending some funding to support the costs of her care," Wilkins said in a Tuesday statement, urging Club members to consider making their own donations. “Linda’s husband is doing his best to cover the bills for her care, but they have to support two children as well."

While photographing the Minneapolis protests, Linda sustained a traumatic brain injury from a "non-lethal" foam plastic bullet fired by police that cost her one eye. That injury, and the dementia she developed as a result, have steadily worsened.

"The only thing that matters to me lately is the moment that I’m inhabiting, the endless thirsty need to feel for as long as I can. That is death, that is knowing that your time is truly limited instead of the dull knowledge that we all die some time," Linda wrote in a June 13 Substack post.

"You feel it coming, when you’re lucky enough to have time to fix your affairs. You start to think about your decline and how much you’ve lost since yesterday, how many minutes you wasted with silly bullshit and not truly living."

Linda sued the Minneapolis Police Department and received a settlement of $600,000 which has mostly been absorbed in medical fees. She has been unable to work or earn an income since the incident.

Linda talked to Update-1, the Club's podcast, in August 2022 about covering civil unrest.

Can Worker Coops Help Solve the Media Industry Crisis? Come Find Out!

Join us on June 18th for a hybrid (Zoom + NYC) panel & workshop to explore the possibilities and challenges of the worker-owned coop model for journalism, podcasting, content production, and more.

The media industry has never been the most stable place to work; its history has been characterized by booms and busts. But rounds of mass layoffs and corporate consolidations signal a need for a structural reset. Can worker-owned cooperatives stop this race to the bottom, and empower media workers to build a resilient, revitalized, justice-oriented industry? Where do unions fit in?

In the last few years alone, the shuttering and reorganization of media companies has led to a dazzling array of new media cooperatives that center both media workers and mission. Join us for a hybrid conversation and workshop with worker-owners from Hell Gate, Defector, Time of Day Media, and Maximum Fun, as well as organizers, educators, and advocates from the Democracy at Work Institute, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, Writers Guild of America East, U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives and FSP-NWU to discuss the challenges and possibilities of the coop model and envision a sustainable and just future for the media industry together.

6:30-7:45 PM ET • Panel and Q&A • Hybrid, Zoom & in-person
7:45-8:30 PM ET • Workshop • In-person only

In-person gathering will be held at the WGAE Offices, 250 Hudson Street, NYC. Refreshments will be provided. RSVP is required.

National Writers Union Statement on the Attacks on Rafah

The National Writers Union is devastated by the recent Israeli airstrikes on Rafah, where more than 1.2 million people are currently sheltering. We are outraged at the dozens of Palestinians who were burned to death by U.S.-made bombs in tent encampments that were designated “safe zones.” These actions violate the International Court of Justice’s recent order that Israel end its military operations in Rafah, following the court’s January ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza. Since the attack on October 7, 2023, that left nearly 1,200 dead, Israel has killed over 35,000 Palestinians and over 100 of our fellow media workers, most in targeted killings.

The mass murder of journalists and media workers is especially troubling and is an attempt to conceal what is happening in Gaza. Foreign journalists have been barred from entering Gaza except those embedded with the Israeli Occupation Forces. Palestinian journalists are the only ones reporting on the ground—and paying the ultimate price. On May 5, 2024, Israeli authorities raided Al Jazeera’s office in Jerusalem after the government ordered a shutdown of the station’s local operations. On May 21, 2024, Israeli officials seized broadcasting equipment from the Associated Press and cut its live feed of Gaza (the equipment has been returned).

Earlier this month, we published Red Lines, a report detailing retaliation against media workers for speaking critically about Israel’s war on Gaza. In it, we called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all political prisoners, a halt to U.S. military funding for Israel, and guaranteed access and protection for journalists in the region. We reiterate these demands in light of the attacks on Rafah and renew our commitment to acting in solidarity with our sibling union, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and with the global labor movement following the urgent call from Palestinian trade unions.

May we continue to find hope and strength in one another.

Gig workers, independent contractors, freelancers and union growth

 

Graphic from the AFL-CIO Daily Brief 1/10/24

A news story from the AFL-CIO says:

Top Cut:

In a win in the fight against employee misclassification, the Department of Labor released a final rule Tuesday that could change the status of millions of gig economy workers from independent contractors to employees. It would take effect March 11.

Why It Matters:
By changing their designation to employees, gig workers who previously didn’t have access to things like minimum wage standards, overtime pay, unemployment insurance and Social Security would now get these important, hard-fought protections and benefits. This walks back a Trump-era rule from 2021 that made it easier for corporations to categorize workers as independent contractors and therefore deny full protections to workers under federal labor law.

Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said this rule would “help create a level playing field for businesses, protect workers from being denied the right to fair pay and affirm the vital role true independent contractors play in our economy by allowing them to thrive.”

It feels as if we in the labor movement have been talking about misclassifications, gig workers, and independent contractors for more than a decade. For many in the labor movement, and probably more people in the general public who think about this, the popular or common picture is that we live in a "gig economy" and that that either drives or helps undermine higher wages, benefits, and job security. Some media have been carrying the story recently that the increasing use of gig workers and independent contractor are also driving inflation.

First, I want to say that the nomination and renomination of Julie Su to the position of Secretary of Labor has been an outstanding step taken by the Biden administration. Perhaps the best evidence of how important Ms. Sui is to the progress and stability of the labor movement is that she is opposed by every Republican of note in Washington, D.C. and the "right-to-work" groups and organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council. The rule change referred to above was expected, but their opposition to the change and to Acting Secretary Julie Su was in motion as the rule changes hit the news. The changes and the good or harm that they may do is beside the point for these folks. They don't want a pro-labor woman of color at the head of the class and they don't want a relatively pro-union President in office.

I also want to say that our views of the "gig economy" and gig workers, independent contractors and freelancers and the situations they work in should be carefully examined. Kim Moody has show in a number of articles (here and here) how complicated the picture is and how deeply systemic the problems and solutions proposed are. The National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project has demonstrated that at least some of these workers have the capacity to organize and a willingness to join a union. Other voices help back this up. The Communications Workers of America has some excellent starting points for independent contractors, whether they are misclassified or not, and these help us see how complicated employment is becoming in the United States even while the wealthy and the leading corporations do ever-better while the rest of us lose ground.

Behind the daily relations of exploitation on the job are some smoke and mirrors. Labor laws in the United States derive from ways of thinking about boss-worker relationships that go back at least 500 years and are still influenced by the thinking that once institutionalized indentured servitude and slavery. These same laws put profits ahead of people in most cases. Oregon National Writers Union President Martin Hart-Landsberg has a good article recapping where we are and where we should be in winning changes in some basic features of labor law.

The rule changes mentioned above are important and necessary. The Biden administration and the labor movement should get the credit for this forward motion and Julie Su should be our Secretary of Labor and serve in a government that sides with workers. The gig workers, independent contractors and freelancers need to be seen and supported in the proper contexts that benefit them, and they need to get into unions. We need to make the time that we have between now and next November about fundamental questions of workers' and union rights, human dignity, and positive change.

Graphic from the AFL-CIO

The opinions expressed above are not those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

    

The National Writers Union and the demand for a ceasefire in Gaza

I am a proud member of the National Writers Union. To those who follow the labor movement, our NWU is currently known for two things. We are taking on the downsides of freelancing and advancing a movement that is seeking to win both local legislative solutions and contractual provisions that begin to solve the problems freelancers are facing. This is new territory for unions. We are also getting known for our support for a ceasefire in Gaza, our work in helping to coordinate a progressive labor response to the carnage there, partnering with the United Electrical workers and some other unions in support of a ceasefire, and our support for Palestinian journalists. This support for a ceasefire and our Palestinian and Arab union siblings is also new territory for Labor.

Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, met

 with Nasser Abu Baker, President of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, in

 Ramallah on December 2,2023. Photo from the National Writers Union.

Labor is not all on the same page as this work unfolds, as the links above and a recent article in In These Times point out. Labor solidarity is always a work in progress, and this is especially true when it comes to unions in the United States building solidarity with unions in other countries when the administration in Washington has other priorities and other allies.  

Our NWU is going one step further than other unions in our solidarity work. A helpful opinion piece that appeared in The New York Times by Lama Al-Arian on December 3, 2023 sets some context for our union's solidarity work. We are being asked to contribute to a special appeal for Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the Palestinian media workers on the ground in Gaza and Ramallah. Donations can be sent here: bit.ly/ifjsafetyfund. Please contribute if you can.

For additional information and context, please see this article in The Nation by Sarah Lazare, this article from Oregon AFT Local 5017 and this article by Keith Brower Brown and Caitlyn Clark that appeared in Labor Notes, 

This post does not reflect the opinions of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

Support Washington Post employees who are on strike today---Your solidarity is needed!

Image taken from The News Guild

Washington Post employees went on a 24-hour walkout strike today, December 7. After 18 months of employer-obstructed bargaining and several rounds of layoffs and "voluntary" buyouts, the Guild says, enough is enough. The workers are members of The News Guild. The Freelance Solidarity Project of the National Writers Union (FSP-NWU) has issued a solidarity statement supporting the strikers.

You can read more about the reasons for the strike here, and send a letter to the Post management in support of the union, using this Action Network tool.

The FSP-NWU statement says "The Post Guild is asking supporters to respect a digital picket line by not engaging with any Post content, including print and online news stories, podcasts, videos, games, and recipes. As freelancers, we should also make sure to avoid performing scab work — that is, work that would otherwise be done by a striking employee. Read more about our principles of solidarity with striking staff unions here."

The strike has been covered on National Public Radio, The Guardian, Reuters, and many other media outlets.

 

Photo from Communications Workers of America.