As strange as it might sound, there
appears to be a group of bloggers who are actually attempting to form
a union. At first, the idea sounds a bit odd, but on closer
inspection of the situation, the idea may have some merit.
To begin with, the situation is not at
all unlike the organization of freelance writers in the early '80s.
“Organizers hope a bloggers' labor group will not only showcase
the growing professionalism of the Web-based writers, but also the
importance of their roles in candidates' campaigns.
"I think people have just gotten to the
point where people outside the blogosphere understand the value of
what it is that we do on the progressive side," said Susie
Madrak, the author of Suburban Guerilla blog, who is active in the
union campaign. "And I think they feel a little more entitled to
ask for something now."
But just what that something is may be hard to say.”
The idea of assembling any large group of people for the purposes
of getting discounts is generally an easy one to get people to go along with, and there's nothing
wrong with it. Many organizations would be more than happy to offer
discounts in order to attract a large volume of new clients. So what
is slowing things down?
By their very nature, many bloggers lean a bit towards the
independent side, and that might make finding enough common ground
for the majority of them to agree on anything a serious challenge.