"By aligning with UASA, we gain real teeth and expertise in labour and contractual issues," said Lotter.
The alliance means that SAFREA endorses UASA as the trade union it recommends its members to join, while UASA recognises SAFREA as its preferred representative body of media freelancers in South Africa.
With 73 000 members, UASA is among South Africa's oldest politically non-aligned trade unions, while SAFREA represents the country's freelance journalists, photographers, editors, designers and writers.
Says UASA CEO Koos Bezuidenhout, “Representing South Africa's media freelancers, with many recognised as top echelon professionals in language, design, journalism and photography, its a new frontier that we are keen to take on."
Lotter noted, "As much as SAFREA offers excellent networking and information-sharing between freelancers, we are too small on our own. We are delighted to find in UASA a trade union that ‘thinks out of the box' and will innovate in areas where it can advance South Africa's labour practices.”
Bezuidenhout and Lotter agree that this agreement represents a new dawn for all media professionals and not only freelancers. As newspapers and magazines around the world are hammered by the rise of broadband Internet and the global recession, full-time media employees and groupings are being urged to join UASA and their freelancer compatriots.
“Many media houses panicked,” states Lotter, “and protected the bottom line by closing well-established titles and retrenching experienced staffers, who are then often hired back as freelancers. Some are sacrificing quality for mediocre journalism and photography that costs less. Certainly Africa cannot afford journalistic standards to slip just as a new wave of political and economic instability sweeps across the continent.”
“All media professionals and associations should now contact us. This innovative agreement with SAFREA has opened the door for you,” concludes Bezuidenhout.
