The New Way of Work is a jobless economy, inhabited by independent workers, living from gig to gig. The security of a full time job is becoming a luxury item, along with the social safety net that was built around employment.
Freelancers are on their own, it seems.
Well then, there is nothing to do other than do it ourselves. Si, Su Puede!
One response to this disaster opportunity is the Freelancers Union, “Building a better future for independent workers”. **
To date, the number one priority of the FU has been to *get freaking paid for work done*, AKA, “#FreelanceIsntFree”.
A close second must surely be access to health insurance and other safety nets. This is a mountain we have to climb, but it isn’t easy.
“we need a safety net and now is the time to do something about it.”
The FU has been offering portable insurance and savings plans for several years, though much of that was only available to residents of New York City. Obviously, that’s not even close to what we need.
This month Sara Horowitz, the retired founder of the FU, has announced a new initiative, tagged Trupo, “Let’s build a new safety net”. This is, she says, “Future of Work 2.0: Building the Next Safety Net”. [2] (Sigh—I’m already out of date, still worrying about the Future of Work, V1.0 : – ))
The idea is simple: this is basic disability insurance, designed for (and by) independent workers. The implementation is said to be inspired by contemporary digital technology, including GoFundMe campaigns.
The Trupo effort is partly owned by the FU, in partnership with venture capital. The underlying theory is that independent workers banding together can create their own safety net.
I hope so.
While I am seriously skeptical of “an insurtech startup building new infrastructure for the mobile workforce” (in this case, literally “portable” benefits), I am somewhat reassured by the involvement of the FU. This isn’t quite worker owned, but the FU is clearly on our side and not out to rake off huge profits from workers. (But I hope they have real actuaries involved, and don’t rely on the FU’s shaky statistics.)
Fingers crossed, we can make this happen.
**Disclosure: I am a proud member of the FU.
- Sara Horowitz, Future of Work 2.0: Building the Next Safety Net, in Medium – @sara horowitz. 2018. https://medium.com/@sara_horowitz/future-of-work-2-0-building-the-next-safety-net-7fdae89904a1
- Sara Horowitz, A new solution for episodic income, in Freelancers Union Blog. 2018. https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/07/31/bad-things-do-happen-to-good-people-but-the-good-people-still-outnumber-the-bad-things/
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