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February 2004

Stronger Advocacy for Writers: ASJA Launches Grievance Committee

By Lisa Collier Cool

Having trouble with a publisher? Whether the problem is slow pay, no pay, or unauthorized use of your copyrighted material, ASJA has a powerful new resource to help right these wrongs: our recently launched grievance committee. Its mission is to offer both support and action, says committee chair and past ASJA president Jim Morrison.

"First, we'll educate members on how to help themselves," he says. "Then, if they've exhausted these options, we'll intervene, if necessary. Our organization will stand in front of freelancers who may feel that they can't complain effectively on their own."

In December, the committee, which consists of ASJA members Jim Morrison, Leah Ingram, Jennifer Pirtle, and Linda Marsa—a former grievance officer with the National Writers Union—tackled its first project: investigating payment delays at Arthritis Today. "What was striking is that the same thing happened to several writers: They were getting all sorts of excuses why their checks were late, in some cases by as much as three months," says Morrison. Although all of the freelancers were ultimately paid in full, the grievance committee will be contacting the magazine to investigate whether the slow pay was a one-time glitch, or an ongoing problem.

The new committee has several projects and plans:

A do-it-yourself guide to solving payment hassles. Executive director Brett Harvey, a former NWU grievance officer, has written a step-by-step tip sheet on extracting overdue checks from deadbeat publishers and resolving kill fee disputes in your favor. The self-help guide will soon appear on ASJA's Web site (www.asja.org) and brims with savvy suggestions like, "Don't rely on phone calls and e-mail to collect late fees. A letter shows them you mean business." Brett's how-to guide is intended to be a freelancer's first line of attack if trouble strikes, and includes common scenarios and solutions.

Grievance intervention. If self-help measures fail, and you want ASJA's help with a serious publishing complaint, contact the ASJA office or the grievance committee (grievance@asja.org). The committee will ask you to send your documentation, discuss your situation, and, if its members agree you've been wronged, authorize the executive director to send a letter on your behalf. You'll have a chance to review the letter before it is sent to verify that the facts are accurate. Bear in mind, however, that the committee is not a collection agency or law office, and will only intervene after you're made a good faith effort to resolve the problem on your own.

Capitalizing on our clout. One attention-getting tactic the committee will use, when appropriate, is advising slow- or no-pay markets that ASJA is investigating if they should be placed on our warning list, says Jim. "Being on the warning list is a real black eye because we're telling 1,100 writers that this publisher is a deadbeat they don't want to work for. That makes people sit up and pay attention." The warning list, which is updated monthly and appears in the confidential section of the newsletter and on the Web site, carries more weight than in the past, due to stricter criteria for inclusion.

Harnessing the power of publicity. Along with letting members know which publishers are problematic, the grievance committee also plans to work closely with the contracts committee, headed by Erik Sherman. If warranted, the two committees will cooperate in issuing alerts about overdue payments or rights hassles, via ASJA's Contracts Watch, which is now distributed to some 15,000 writers and editors across the country.

Establishing legal resources for freelancers. In the future, the grievance committee hopes to create a list of lawyers willing to take writers' cases to court, when necessary. ASJA member and publishing attorney Sallie Randolph has volunteered to assist the committee with this effort. And as the grievance committee evolves, it will also develop other resources to empower and protect freelancers, speed up payment, and bring publishing disputes to a swift and satisfactory ending.