This week I have been noticing an uptick in articles proclaiming that bloggers need a union. Some of the reasons cited have had to do with banding together to get health insurance or normalizing of advertising rates. Others have poo pooed the idea saying that to unionize the bloggers would remove the creative spirit behind the blogosphere. They feel it would make the blogosphere into a second rate Main Stream Media.

I am against the idea of a bloggers union and I'm going to tell you why.

From what I have read, the idea of unionizing bloggers appears to have started among the left wing bloggers. These people are known to be pro-union and pro-government regulation (when it does not affect them).

"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."

Source -- Washington Post

I think the above quote from the Washington Post articles shows just how misguided this effort is. Entitled? Entitled to what? Entitled to what and from whom?

Others in the article talk about how it will raise standards among bloggers and allow them to get better jobs. Hello, anyone home? You are a blogger not a journalist! There is a big difference.

Even with this lunacy aside consider this. A union is created to protect the workers and bargain with management. Do you consider yourself an employee or an owner of your blog? I consider myself an owner of my blog so who would I go after for these benefits?

What about using a union to set advertising rates? If I have to charge $50 a month for a text link ad will people buy it? Will they look harder at my numbers and instead opt to buy advertising from a site with better traffic at the same price?

I work in a union shop and even though the union does do good for the workers they do it blindly. I don't mean that in the stumbling around in the dark sense but in the sense that justice is blind. All of us who work in our union shop are treated exactly the same. The guy who barely lifts a finger all day is treated the same as the guy who busts his butt getting work done. I'm sure the lazy guy loves his union protection, I'm not so sure about the hard worker though.

The simple reality is that when you are a blogger you are your own boss. If you are looking for health insurance discounts contact your local Chamber of Commerce. If you register as a sole proprietorship or small business they will be more than happy to welcome you in. Not only will you get some benefits but you will also be networking in your local business community. You will be building up contacts and you may be able to drum up some business for yourself.

So what side of the fence do you think you are on? Employee or owner?