-- Protested Simon &
Schuster's recent changes to its standard author contract that violate the
principle that a publisher should retain rights to a book only if it continues
to invest significantly in the work.
-- Documented specific
contract terms that academic writers should be aware of, and compiled a guide
to negotiating contracts with academic publishers.
--Protested BostonNow's use
of blogs for 20 percent and eventually 50 percent of its content with no
commitment to pay creators of that content. The new free daily paper has since
announced that it is putting together a "compensation package."
-- Called for the release of
freelancer journalist and blogger Josh Wolf, imprisoned for refusing to turn
over videos to police, and spoke out for a robust federal shield law that would
protect all journalists, including freelance journalists and does not contain
significant loopholes and includes protection for online journalists.
-- Supported Dr. Nawal El
Saadawi, an Egyptian author whose book was suppressed. The author is currently
in exile. Called for release of American freelance journalist Jill Carroll,
kidnapped in Iraq while reporting for the Christian Science Monitor, as well as
for the release of Iraqi journalists Reem Zaid and Marwant Khazal.
-- Supported the restoration
and reformation of the Freedom of Information Act.
Grievances and Writer Alerts
-- Alerted writers to unfair
business practices of particular publishers via Writer Alerts on www.nwu.org.
-- Uncovered violations of
members' copyright by Amazon.com, Findarticles.com, Google, and other online
companies that posted members' work online without their permission. The
union's Copyright Crackdown campaign demonstrated to Amazon.com that they had
bought from a database aggregator rights to sell articles that the aggregator
didn't own. Amazon stopped selling the articles."
-- Pressed for resolution of
class action electronic rights litigation and settlement payments due
freelancers as a result of the landmark New York Times v. Tasini Supreme Court
decision. (Court ruled that when freelance writers sell first print rights to publishers;
publishers cannot use print rights to sell that content in electronic format to
database companies, etc. Instead, rights to electronic sales and such sales to
a third party, such as FindArticles.com, must be negotiated separately.)
Jobs
-- Launched a
Hire-a-Union-Writer web portal program to connect NWU writers with labor unions
seeking union members who can do writing jobs.
Taxation
-- Testified to the FCC re:
media monopoly and testified before the New York City Council's Small Business
Committee on double taxation and lack of access to unemployment benefits by a
growing number of freelancer writers as staff writer jobs are being cut by the
thousands. Urged exemption from the Unincorporated Business Tax or a tax
credit.
-- Launched a Digital Issues
Task Force to analyze technological practices such as Google Print, Google
Search, that imperil copyright and impact writers' incomes. Opposed Google
Print and Google Book Search claim that scanning author's work does not violate
their copyright.
-- Advocated for ASCAP-type
royalty systems for music to be used as well for writers. Called for fair and
transparent collection of reproduction rights.
-- Critiqued the advantages and disadvantages of POD (print on demand) publishing and compared major POD vendors ("Print on Demand: What You Need to Know" is available on www.nwu.org)
-- Protested Playboy magazine's making 636 back issues available in original format on DVD, evading Supreme issues parameters and taking commercial advantage of writers' content without paying them additional money.
-- Lobbied in Washington
D.C., securing the support of a number of Congressmen, including Barney Frank,
for bills that protect creators' copyright, enhance collective licensing
through antitrust exemption, and lift the unparalleled burden on creators to
pay fees to register their works in order to gain access to punitive damages
against willful infringers.
-- Supported legislation to secure
bargaining rights for freelance writers, rights that freelance writers in many
other countries already enjoy.
-- Advocated for the elimination of the requirement under the 1976 copyright Act that prevents creators from suing for statutory damages for infringement unless they register every item with the U.S. Copyright office, for a fee.
-- Advocated for legislation to require publishers and periodicals to include registration at the U.S. Copyright Office of a creator's contribution in the name of the creator, not just as an issue in the name of the publishers.
-- Submitted written
testimony against the U.S. Copyright Office's "orphan works' bill, whose
original proposal would have allowed publishers and online databases to sell
"orphan works" (works whose authors have not been located) without
the author's permission. Under pressure, the Copyright Office revised its bill
to require due diligence searches for authors and other changes we called for
and lobbied Congress for, putting the bill on the back burner for this year's
Congressional session.
-- Called for the
criminalization of copyright infringement so that those who steal our written
works pay the same penalties as those who steal music and movies.
-- Endorsed civil marriage
for same sex couples.
-- Pioneered a live
Internet-based forum, The Written Word Workshop, for writers with disabilities.
These teleconferences, primarily for blind and visually impaired (BUI) writers.
mentors poets, short story writers and creative non-fiction writers and is open
to NWU members and non members.
-- Created a free summer
institute to teach writing and the business of publishing your written work for
union members (2005 and 2006) in the greater NYC area, culminating each year in
a published collection of their work.
-- Endorsed legislation to
institute a single payer health care system in the US that would cover every
resident and eliminate high overhead and profits of the current private health
insurance industry and HMOs. UAW Region 9A director Robert Madore was arrested
at a pro single payer sit-in outside Connecticut governor's office.
-- Spoke out against the
owner of Toledo Blade newspapers' union busting tactics and the heavy handed
actions of the management team and their lawyers in the year-old labor dispute.
-- Helped craft the U.S.
Labor Against the War (USLAW) anti-Iraq war resolution, passed by the AFL-CIO
at its national convention. This was the first time in US history that the
AFL-CIO came out in opposition to a war while it was being fought.
-- Spoke out at Labor Media
Conference to support organizing on campuses.
-- Supported writers affected
by Katrina, collaborating with Gulf Coast Writers, to get books to writers who
lost theirs in the hurricane and flood.
-- Collaborated with the International Federation of
Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO) and the International Federation of
Journalists (IFJ) for joint action to secure for pro-writer changes in the
international reproduction royalties system and for copyright protection. --
Forged alliances with other creators' groups such as the Graphics Artist Guild
and Illustrators' Collective, to raise awareness of copyright issues and
develop joint strategies for increasing royalties to creators in the US.
-- Collaborated with the
Authors Guild, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Graphic Artists
Guild, Pride At Work, Health Care for All, Author Coalition of America
Coalition of Labor Union Women, U.S. Social Forum, Detroit Writers Guild, Labor
Research Associates, Reporters Without Borders, and the A. Philip Randolph
Institute and its "Black-Labor Alliance."
-- Co-sponsored cutting edge programs with Women, Action and
Media (Boston), Mission District Latino Book Festival (San Francisco), The Brecht
Forum (NYC), Allied Media Conference, AFT Michigan, Stony Brook seminar,
National Council of Teachers of English, and the Labor Media Conference.