Monday, September 05, 2005

LABOR DAY MESSAGE: UnSettlement Held Hostage ... Day 39

Let us pause on this Labor Day to note that the National Writers Union -- an affiliate of the United Auto Workers, AFL-CIO -- continues to push the worst sellout in the history of writers’ rights and to censor the truth about what it is doing.

On August 24 the NWU website finally got around to announcing an amendment to the UnSettlement that a July 28 court order required it to publicize.

On August 26 the NWU posted an explanatory “Important Message from NWU President Colby and Former President Tasini.”

On August 30 the NWU removed the Colby-Tasini message, which was riddled with misstatements. The original August 24 announcement (mislabeled August 22) went back to promising a fuller explanation "later."

Meanwhile the American Society of Journalists and Authors still has no mention of the settlement amendment on its home page. The new issue of its magazine doesn’t mention either the original preliminary settlement or the amendment.

And all three associational plaintiffs -- NWU, ASJA, and Authors Guild -- go right on hiding the UnSettlement’s blatantly unconstitutional “License by Default,” which gives away the future rights of all freelancers in perpetuity, whether or not you file a claim or even know that the UnSettlement exists. The organizations with the mission of educating writers about, and helping defend, our rights and interests have concluded that their main function is to harbor an elephant in a closet.

The deadline for objections or opt-outs is September 12. The fairness hearing before Judge George B. Daniels in New York is scheduled for September 27. The deadline for claims is September 30.

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