Sara Horowitz founded Working Today-Freelancers Union in 1995 to represent the needs and concerns of the growing independent workforce. The initiative seeks to update the social safety net in the U.S.A., developing systems so that all working people can access affordable benefits. As executive director, Sara Horowitz takes an entrepreneurial approach, pursuing creative, market-based solutions to pressing social problems. Serving over 200,000 members, Working Today-Freelancers Union is building a new system of benefits and protections for the independent workforce. More than 16,000 people receive insurance (health, dental, life, and disability) through the organization, which recently expanded its health insurance offerings to 31 states. Through these insurance offerings, Working Today-Freelancers Union has aggregated independent workers into a new market for businesses – a market upon which the education and advocacy agenda is supported. In addition, Working Today-Freelancers Union offers educational seminars to workers in New York City on topics such as taxes, retirement planning, and business development. They also have an online community with gig postings and a Freelancers Yellow Pages with over 5,000 listings, allowing independent workers to connect with one another and to find work. Finally, Working Today-Freelancers Union provides a collective voice for independent workers to advocate for change. Working Today-Freelancers Union’s advocacy agenda includes developing a new model for unemployment insurance for independent workers who experience episodic income, providing a government-supported program for help when clients don’t pay freelancers, and supporting reforms to taxes that unfairly penalize the self-employed.
Website: https://www.freelancersunion.org/
