eNewsletter • SUMMER 2013
Photo: Steph Guthrie
MT Commons hosted its first digital media mixer at a pub in Toronto's Liberty Village.
An online hive for digital worker bees toiling alone
Toiling in isolation is fine for hermits, but it’s anathema for digital media workers who suffer from a lack of interraction with others in their field.
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG), realizing it was uniquely positioned to provide a possible solution, has created a secure online meeting place where these workers — employees or freelancers — can come together.
More than 120 people have already joined the MediaTech Commons (MTC), a space designed to allow individual workers to replenish creative juices, float ideas, get and share information, discuss issues, vent, celebrate successes — it’s up to them.
The project is being funded by CWA Canada, the national parent union of CMG. Director Martin O'Hanlon says the forum is an attempt to help workers who don't have the support of a traditional workplace.
"There are now thousands of people in digital media — freelancers, contractors, interns — who are working in relative isolation with little support or interaction," O'Hanlon says. "Information is power and this resource allows people to come together to share information that hopefully will give them some power and allow them to improve their wages, benefits and working conditions."
CMG staffer Karen Wirsig says people who work alone need and want to connect, but doing so using social media has its drawbacks. Sometimes tweets or posts on websites such as Facebook can get these workers into hot water. MTC provides a more secure space where they can ask questions and have discussions that they might not want to have on social media.
MTC also has a Twitter account (@espaceMTcommons) and a Facebook page where members can keep up to date with what is going on.
Aware that these workers crave face-to-face communication, the CMG held a “digital media mixer” in Toronto in June that drew 60 people. A speaker from Creative Niche, who talked about jobs, employers and working conditions, formed the hub of the gathering but “networking was also a big part of it,” says Wirsig.
Another one is planned for Sept. 11, at which Johanna Weststar, of the University of Western Ontario, will focus on career paths and sustainability of the industry.
Digital media workers, says Wirsig, “tend to work in competitive and Darwinian environments” even if collaboration is essential to the creative work they do. The MediaTech Commons is a way of developing a community and sense of collective identity, says Wirsig.
It’s also a non-intimidating way of introducing these workers to an existing collective: a union that is dedicated to meeting their needs.
As a media-specific union, CWA Canada is intimately familiar with challenges facing the industry — print and electronic — in the Internet Age. The CMG, which represents thousands of workers at institutions such as the CBC, The Canadian Press, Reuters and various broadcasters, is well-versed in the issues confronting digital media workers.
The CMG was one of the first unions in North America to establish a Freelance branch, primarily to serve the large number of workers on contract at the CBC.
Given the massive upheaval in the media industry over the last decade, Wirsig says, "we have to redefine unions in this environment."
One of the ways to do that is to bring workers to the union, rather than the union to the workplace. It can be particularly attractive for freelancers, who can obtain things like critical illness insurance that they might not otherwise be able to get.
Freelancers who join the CMG automatically become members of CWA Canada, which offers valuable benefits like free online training (at Lynda.com) and significant discounts on a range of products and services offered by the Union Savings program.
CMG members can also sign up with the Writers Coalition group medical and dental plan.
Union membership is not necessary for admittance to the MediaTech Commons, which is a free resource offered by the CMG. However, applicants are screened to verify that they are not "signing up on behalf of an employer to keep tabs on their employees or contractors."
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