As freelancers wend our way through summer I hope everyone has some sort of opportunity to take time for yourself and not your clients.
I know, I know, freelancers never take vacation! But seriously, for your physical and mental health, take a break.
While you’re resting, just a few items to bring you up to date on the CMG Freelance world.
CBC Temps and Freelancers
The first item is so complicated it’s hard to get down in less than a thousand words. So I’ll give you the ‘elevator pitch’ version: CBC’s Business Affairs department suddenly issued an edict a few months ago that would have forced people who both temp AND freelance at the Corporation to choose one form of employment or another.
This is all tied up in concerns with the Employment Standards Act, CRA, and a perceived conflict of interest in a freelancer using their temp status to secure freelance work. Like I said, it’s complicated. What Business Affairs didn’t realize is that this ‘new way’ of doing things was causing considerable upheaval and stress for temps, freelancers, their supervisors and the admin folks responsible for administering payments.
Business Affairs has ‘relented’ for now. They are doing some due diligence on the situation and promise some sort of solution…maybe by September. If you’ve been having any problems with this, don’t hesitate to contact me for help.
Level Up: The Conference
On a happier note: CMG Freelance and PWAC (the Professional Writers Association of Canada) have joined forces to offer the ‘Level Up’ conference September 21st and 22nd in Toronto. This is your chance to add to your freelancing skills, network with your fellow freelancers, and perhaps catch a few rays with some beverages on an outdoor patio before the reality of fall arrives. Check out our Story Board post on it.
More details to come as to the speakers on each of the panels and workshops, but I can vouch for the ‘working tour’ of St. Lawrence Market on the Saturday morning. This guy named Bill Genova is leading it. Yes, it’s my cousin, and he practically grew up at that market and is a storyteller extraordinaire. Definitely worth the price of admission.
Labour Councils
Part of our commitment at CMG Freelance is to finding work for our members. To that end we are joining various labour councils around the country. You all have skills of one sort or another that can be valuable to unions who outsource their communications needs. That means they hire freelancers and they’d like to hire unionized freelancers. That’s where we come in. It’s good work for good pay. To date the labour councils we’ve joined or are in the midst of joining include Halifax, Vancouver and Ottawa. If you’d like us to be involved with a labour council in your region, let me know.
Webinars
We’ve taken a break from putting on our professional development webinars over the summer, but we’ll get them going again in the fall. In the meantime, if you missed our pre-summer webinars on making best use of your social media accounts, the how-to’s of labour reporting, and how to handle the physical and emotional realities of journalism, you’ll find them on this page but you must be a member, and you must have a user profile so you can log in. No profile? Create one by clicking on that link and registering. Is there a topic you’d like us to explore, or a person you’d like to watch talk about their craft for 45 minutes? Let me know.
Contract advice
I keep reading stories about how freelancers should never be afraid to ask for more money. That’s good advice. Sometimes you’ll succeed, sometimes you won’t, but if you never ask, you will never succeed. And chances are the people who hire you will regard you with a little more respect, just because you had the guts to ask. And don’t be afraid to say no to a bad contract. Check out our contract advice right here.
If you’re reading this and you’re not already a member of CMG Freelance, or your membership has lapsed, you’ll find all the reasons you need to join us at this link.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the summer!
In solidarity,
Don Genova
CMG Freelance President