October 13, 2025 • 14 mins
While gig work is wide ranging and offers plenty of freedoms, being an independent worker often means no access to traditional employment protections or benefits, such as healthcare, retirement or paid leave. Rafael Espinal, Executive Director of Freelancers Union, visits to talk about the growing independent workforce and portable benefits. Freelancers Union is the largest organization representing independent workers in the U.S., with over 500,000 members nationwide. Membership is free and open to all U.S.-based freelancers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thanks for listening to Get Connected. From designers to writers, accountants,
at based workers, and many other fields. About a third
of New York City's total workforce engages in some sort
of freelance work. The work is ride ranging. It affords
us plenty of freedom, but being an independent worker often
also means working without access to traditional employment protections such
(00:34):
as healthcare, retirement, or paid leave. Our guest is Rafael Espinal,
Executive director of the Freelancers Union, for a conversation about
the growing independent workforce and portable benefits. You can find
out more at Freelancersunion dot org. Rafael Espinal, thank you
for being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
The Freelancers Union is the largest organization representing independent workers
in the country, advocating for power change providing benefits in
building community. With over five hundred thousand members nationwide, they
include graphic designers, contractors, artists, entrepreneurs, and gig workers. Membership
is free and open to all US based freelancers. Let's
(01:15):
start with you, Raphael So your background, how did you
get to this point? What inspired you to take on
the leadership of the Freelancers Union.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, it's a long story, but I'll start off by
saying that I'm I'm a born and raised in Brooklyn.
I a son of Dominican immigrants who were both union
members traditionally members and freelancers. And I had no plans
in my life of being an advocate or getting involved
in politics or policy. But it's where life took me,
and it was fueled by a burning desire to see
the inequities I've experienced growing up in New York City
(01:45):
and so my neighbors experience be properly addressed by our government.
So I stuck and I got into a career public service,
and I stuck with it. And my first job out
of college was working for a city council member. And
then at twenty six years old, it is that it's
run for office, where I served there in the New
York State Assembly and then I won. And then I
served in the New York City Council where I represented
the neighborhoods of cyber Sales, East New York and Bushwick.
(02:08):
And there I fought for issues that affected all New Yorkers,
but also we can argue freelancers and that's access to
affordable housing right, that's creating better socio economic conditions for
those in the lower income spectrum. And I'm more friendlessly
known for repealing the cabaret Law and creating the Office
of Nightlife, which I can argue benefits creative workers and
(02:32):
freelancers in the nightlife industry. So in twenty twenty, the
Freelancers Union was looking for a new executive director, and
given my history working in local government and politics and
actually working with the union and creating the nation's first
non payment protection law, the Freelancers and Free Act, because
of the relationship that we're built, I just thought it
(02:53):
was a natural evolution of my work to be able
to use my experience in government and my care and
advocacy representing communities that I feel are often voiceless and
left out of the process, and use that position to
further the work of the union and further the impact
government have on creating a fair economy for the independent workforce.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Do Freelancers Union represents such a wide range of workers, again,
from artists to actors to accountants. How does the union
support such a diverse group.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, so we represent over half a million workers across
the country, all in different industry and professions. As you mentioned,
we have creative professionals, we have writers, designers, filmmakers, artists,
but also people in tech and marketing and journalism and healthcare. Really,
if you are in a traditional if you are someone
who are considering yourself to be self employed out of
(03:49):
the traditional workplace environment, we are an organization focused on
working towards addressing your needs. And the way we are
able to create such a wide umbrella is because we
that commentary that all independent works have in common, and
that's how to fill your taxes, getting access to expensive
benefits and especially healthcare. We've built the foundation that ensures
(04:12):
that anyone who falls within the independent worker model has
access to some sort of education or resources that are
going to support them along their freelance journey.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Our guest is Raphael Espinal. He's executive director of the
Freelancers Union. As he mentioned, he served in the State Assembly.
He was actually New York's youngest elected official at twenty six.
He then served on the New York City Council and
has been executive director of Freelancers Union since twenty twenty.
You can find out more about the organization at Freelancers
Union dot org. You're listening to get connected on one
(04:43):
OHO six point seven light FM Amina del Rio. And
one of the issues you've most been vocal about particularly
is portable benefits. Let's talk about what that is to
begin with.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, so portal benefits, I know can be a confusing term,
but basically I like to see it as a benefit
for all model. Right. Currently, if you're a traditional nine
to five employee, you have access traditional benefits like unemployment insurance,
workman's comp group healthcare plans. But if you go out
with the science to go out on your own and
(05:14):
begin to freelance, now all of those benefits are benefits
that you have to find a way to carve out
the income you're making to be able to cover some
of those expenses. Right, So, now you're paying for your
own health insurance plan, which can be seven hundred dollars
a month on the average. If you're an individual, you're
now saving money in the case you have trouble finding
(05:37):
gigs and finding work, right create your own unemployment insurance
a savings pool to cover you during those times that
you have in trouble finding clients. So what we're arguing
is that, you know, the the nature of our workforce
has evolved over the past few decades, and even more
now after the COVID nineteen pandemic. More rapidly, we're seeing
(06:00):
more and more workers voluntarily or because it's what the
market is pushing for, a turn to freelance. Worker is
the main source of income. So we now need government
to adapt to that change. We need to ensure that
any benefits system that is created moving forward is taking
the independent workers' needs into account and creating a system
that is accessible to all workers, no matter whether you're
(06:23):
working for a tritional employer or whether you're working for yourself.
And with the portable benefits model, some of the models
that are actually being talked about right now are creating,
for one case, style accounts or let's say hasa accounts
in which every client you work for is now would
be able to contribute a small amount of money into
(06:44):
the account, which you are able to match and potentially
have the government match, so that you have a pull
of savings that you can use to purchase the benefits
at a much more subsidized cost, making it more affordable
and more accessible for you as an independent worker.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
There has been you wrote about it, some legislation proposed
at the national level to address portable benefits. In your opinion,
maybe talk about sort of a little bit more about
those proposals and what is missing, what are the red
flags for you?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, well, it's encouraging to see governments on a local level,
on a national level actually having this conversation right, thinking
through of how do we involve our evolve our current
benefit system to benefit all workers. But my main concern,
of course, is that it is being led by Republicans
and in more conservative states across the country. And I
(07:36):
think historically if you look back, anytime you have Republicans
talking about the future of work, they're usually talking about
the future of benefiting corporations and making sure that the
top down, trickle down economics continues to stay in place. Right,
if you look at the gig gig workforce stat has
(07:59):
evolved over the years, especially through app based companies, we
see very attractive models of new ways of working. But
those models and at the end of the day, end
up benefiting the corporations instead of the workers for those models.
So we want to ensure that if we're going to
have this discussion on a federal level, that we have
to ensure that that workers are being taken into account,
(08:21):
that any sort of benefits model gets pushed forward includes
the voices of the workers and the exploitation of these
workers off the table.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
It's really interesting because the breath of freelancers is so
varied that we don't often think of ourselves as a unit,
and yet as a unit there is a lot of
potential power there. So freelancers union who are the other
stakeholders pushing to get things on the table that are
not necessarily pro business, that are more balanced towards workers.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
There is a huge movement among the creative workforce and
organizations that represent artists that want to see a much
more fair benefits system created. Are artists, even though they
like to consider themselves as artists, they are also self employed.
They're also part of the freelance freelancer umbrella. So my
proposal to those who consider them sulposed to be creative
(09:12):
workers or at based workers is that we have to
start seeing ourselves as a greater unit. As you mentioned,
we are under the same umbrella, and the sooner we're
able to come to the conclusion that we must work
together to create a unified voice to be able to
advocate for what is needed to serve the needs and
(09:32):
the concerns of the independent workforce. Sooner we'll be able
to see those changes on our federal level.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
From your experience, your perspective, what are the things that
gig workers that have come to the Freelancers Union are
most interested in seeing and most and avail themselves of
most at the moment.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, So we currently pose this question to our membership,
and we find that non payment concerns continue to be
the top concern of any area independent worker. There are
many instances we find. We find over seventy six percent
of freelancers on an annual basis end up working with
a client that does not pay them or does not
pay them on time. So we've been trying to address
(10:11):
this issue, or we have been through this law call
of Freelances and Free Act. We passed that law in
the City of New York, making it the first city
in the country to have such a such a law,
which means that now you have the right to a contract,
you have the right to a net pay of thirty
days and if the client does not agree to those
terms or doesn't end up paying you on time, you
can now rely on the City of New York to
(10:33):
intervene on your behalf. And we have been able to
see that law push for that lots proliferate across the country.
We now have that law in the state of California,
in the state of Illinois, in the statey of Seattle.
So we want to see that continued work happened across
the country. But we also hear, as we've been talking
about earlier, that the access to affordable health care country
is to get a top concern when we talk about
(10:55):
the rising costs of living. The rising inflation that's happening
now because of President's Trump's need or wrath to put
tariffs globally is taking a toll on people's ability to
pay for basic needs and necessities, and folks are deciding
to go uninsured or underinsured because of that. So we
(11:19):
see healthcare as being one of those top concerns and
well as well, and one we hope to address as
we continue the conversation around creating a portable benefit system.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
As you as that conversation also moves forward, what message
do you want freelancers to take away about their future
and their role in this advocacy.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yeah. Well, the freelance workforce is a fragmented workforce and
because of that, every independent worker is open to exploitation
by a client or a company they're working with. And
the message I want freelancers to hear is that you're
not alone, right the freelance I know, the freelance life
can feel isolating, but there's a community of hundreds of
thousands of people just like you that we are working
(12:02):
with to build a unified voice, to to create greater
power within the workforce. So, no matter if you consider
yourself a self employed, a lrepreneur, a gig worker, founder,
or an artist, you know freelancers Union seader to write support,
to advocate on your behalp and to make sure your
workers are respected. So I ask you all to take
(12:22):
the time go on Freelancers Union dot org and look
at the work we're doing and how you can be
more involved in ensuring that we're creating a better and
brighter future for you.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
There are so many resources on the website. What motivates
you personally to do this work? What's your philosophy?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, So, as I mentioned earlier at the top, I
grew up in a community that I felt was often
voiceless in the in the in the governmental process, and
looking at the freelance workforce, I see the same.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
These are These are workers who are fighting to ensure
that government is working more equitably and sharing that all
of its citizens and residents have access to the basic
needs of access to benefits, you know, being able to earn,
earn an income and put food on the table, be
(13:12):
able to raise a family, be able to find affordable housing.
So that's where my passion lize and ensuring that we
are creating a more equitable and just society for all workers.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
You can find out more about the organization at Freelancers
Union dot org. Our guest has been executive director Raphael Espinal.
Thank you for being on to Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Thank you for having me pleasure.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thanks for listening to Get Connected. From designers to writers, accountants,
at based workers, and many other fields. About a third
of New York City's total workforce engages in some sort
of freelance work. The work is ride ranging. It affords
us plenty of freedom, but being an independent worker often
also means working without access to traditional employment protections such
(00:34):
as healthcare, retirement, or paid leave. Our guest is Rafael Espinal,
Executive director of the Freelancers Union, for a conversation about
the growing independent workforce and portable benefits. You can find
out more at Freelancersunion dot org. Rafael Espinal, thank you
for being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
The Freelancers Union is the largest organization representing independent workers
in the country, advocating for power change providing benefits in
building community. With over five hundred thousand members nationwide, they
include graphic designers, contractors, artists, entrepreneurs, and gig workers. Membership
is free and open to all US based freelancers. Let's
(01:15):
start with you, Raphael So your background, how did you
get to this point? What inspired you to take on
the leadership of the Freelancers Union.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, it's a long story, but I'll start off by
saying that I'm I'm a born and raised in Brooklyn.
I a son of Dominican immigrants who were both union
members traditionally members and freelancers. And I had no plans
in my life of being an advocate or getting involved
in politics or policy. But it's where life took me,
and it was fueled by a burning desire to see
the inequities I've experienced growing up in New York City
(01:45):
and so my neighbors experience be properly addressed by our government.
So I stuck and I got into a career public service,
and I stuck with it. And my first job out
of college was working for a city council member. And
then at twenty six years old, it is that it's
run for office, where I served there in the New
York State Assembly and then I won. And then I
served in the New York City Council where I represented
the neighborhoods of cyber Sales, East New York and Bushwick.
(02:08):
And there I fought for issues that affected all New Yorkers,
but also we can argue freelancers and that's access to
affordable housing right, that's creating better socio economic conditions for
those in the lower income spectrum. And I'm more friendlessly
known for repealing the cabaret Law and creating the Office
of Nightlife, which I can argue benefits creative workers and
(02:32):
freelancers in the nightlife industry. So in twenty twenty, the
Freelancers Union was looking for a new executive director, and
given my history working in local government and politics and
actually working with the union and creating the nation's first
non payment protection law, the Freelancers and Free Act, because
of the relationship that we're built, I just thought it
(02:53):
was a natural evolution of my work to be able
to use my experience in government and my care and
advocacy representing communities that I feel are often voiceless and
left out of the process, and use that position to
further the work of the union and further the impact
government have on creating a fair economy for the independent workforce.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Do Freelancers Union represents such a wide range of workers, again,
from artists to actors to accountants. How does the union
support such a diverse group.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, so we represent over half a million workers across
the country, all in different industry and professions. As you mentioned,
we have creative professionals, we have writers, designers, filmmakers, artists,
but also people in tech and marketing and journalism and healthcare. Really,
if you are in a traditional if you are someone
who are considering yourself to be self employed out of
(03:49):
the traditional workplace environment, we are an organization focused on
working towards addressing your needs. And the way we are
able to create such a wide umbrella is because we
that commentary that all independent works have in common, and
that's how to fill your taxes, getting access to expensive
benefits and especially healthcare. We've built the foundation that ensures
(04:12):
that anyone who falls within the independent worker model has
access to some sort of education or resources that are
going to support them along their freelance journey.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Our guest is Raphael Espinal. He's executive director of the
Freelancers Union. As he mentioned, he served in the State Assembly.
He was actually New York's youngest elected official at twenty six.
He then served on the New York City Council and
has been executive director of Freelancers Union since twenty twenty.
You can find out more about the organization at Freelancers
Union dot org. You're listening to get connected on one
(04:43):
OHO six point seven light FM Amina del Rio. And
one of the issues you've most been vocal about particularly
is portable benefits. Let's talk about what that is to
begin with.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, so portal benefits, I know can be a confusing term,
but basically I like to see it as a benefit
for all model. Right. Currently, if you're a traditional nine
to five employee, you have access traditional benefits like unemployment insurance,
workman's comp group healthcare plans. But if you go out
with the science to go out on your own and
(05:14):
begin to freelance, now all of those benefits are benefits
that you have to find a way to carve out
the income you're making to be able to cover some
of those expenses. Right, So, now you're paying for your
own health insurance plan, which can be seven hundred dollars
a month on the average. If you're an individual, you're
now saving money in the case you have trouble finding
(05:37):
gigs and finding work, right create your own unemployment insurance
a savings pool to cover you during those times that
you have in trouble finding clients. So what we're arguing
is that, you know, the the nature of our workforce
has evolved over the past few decades, and even more
now after the COVID nineteen pandemic. More rapidly, we're seeing
(06:00):
more and more workers voluntarily or because it's what the
market is pushing for, a turn to freelance. Worker is
the main source of income. So we now need government
to adapt to that change. We need to ensure that
any benefits system that is created moving forward is taking
the independent workers' needs into account and creating a system
that is accessible to all workers, no matter whether you're
(06:23):
working for a tritional employer or whether you're working for yourself.
And with the portable benefits model, some of the models
that are actually being talked about right now are creating,
for one case, style accounts or let's say hasa accounts
in which every client you work for is now would
be able to contribute a small amount of money into
(06:44):
the account, which you are able to match and potentially
have the government match, so that you have a pull
of savings that you can use to purchase the benefits
at a much more subsidized cost, making it more affordable
and more accessible for you as an independent worker.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
There has been you wrote about it, some legislation proposed
at the national level to address portable benefits. In your opinion,
maybe talk about sort of a little bit more about
those proposals and what is missing, what are the red
flags for you?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, well, it's encouraging to see governments on a local level,
on a national level actually having this conversation right, thinking
through of how do we involve our evolve our current
benefit system to benefit all workers. But my main concern,
of course, is that it is being led by Republicans
and in more conservative states across the country. And I
(07:36):
think historically if you look back, anytime you have Republicans
talking about the future of work, they're usually talking about
the future of benefiting corporations and making sure that the
top down, trickle down economics continues to stay in place. Right,
if you look at the gig gig workforce stat has
(07:59):
evolved over the years, especially through app based companies, we
see very attractive models of new ways of working. But
those models and at the end of the day, end
up benefiting the corporations instead of the workers for those models.
So we want to ensure that if we're going to
have this discussion on a federal level, that we have
to ensure that that workers are being taken into account,
(08:21):
that any sort of benefits model gets pushed forward includes
the voices of the workers and the exploitation of these
workers off the table.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
It's really interesting because the breath of freelancers is so
varied that we don't often think of ourselves as a unit,
and yet as a unit there is a lot of
potential power there. So freelancers union who are the other
stakeholders pushing to get things on the table that are
not necessarily pro business, that are more balanced towards workers.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
There is a huge movement among the creative workforce and
organizations that represent artists that want to see a much
more fair benefits system created. Are artists, even though they
like to consider themselves as artists, they are also self employed.
They're also part of the freelance freelancer umbrella. So my
proposal to those who consider them sulposed to be creative
(09:12):
workers or at based workers is that we have to
start seeing ourselves as a greater unit. As you mentioned,
we are under the same umbrella, and the sooner we're
able to come to the conclusion that we must work
together to create a unified voice to be able to
advocate for what is needed to serve the needs and
(09:32):
the concerns of the independent workforce. Sooner we'll be able
to see those changes on our federal level.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
From your experience, your perspective, what are the things that
gig workers that have come to the Freelancers Union are
most interested in seeing and most and avail themselves of
most at the moment.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, So we currently pose this question to our membership,
and we find that non payment concerns continue to be
the top concern of any area independent worker. There are
many instances we find. We find over seventy six percent
of freelancers on an annual basis end up working with
a client that does not pay them or does not
pay them on time. So we've been trying to address
(10:11):
this issue, or we have been through this law call
of Freelances and Free Act. We passed that law in
the City of New York, making it the first city
in the country to have such a such a law,
which means that now you have the right to a contract,
you have the right to a net pay of thirty
days and if the client does not agree to those
terms or doesn't end up paying you on time, you
can now rely on the City of New York to
(10:33):
intervene on your behalf. And we have been able to
see that law push for that lots proliferate across the country.
We now have that law in the state of California,
in the state of Illinois, in the statey of Seattle.
So we want to see that continued work happened across
the country. But we also hear, as we've been talking
about earlier, that the access to affordable health care country
is to get a top concern when we talk about
(10:55):
the rising costs of living. The rising inflation that's happening
now because of President's Trump's need or wrath to put
tariffs globally is taking a toll on people's ability to
pay for basic needs and necessities, and folks are deciding
to go uninsured or underinsured because of that. So we
(11:19):
see healthcare as being one of those top concerns and
well as well, and one we hope to address as
we continue the conversation around creating a portable benefit system.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
As you as that conversation also moves forward, what message
do you want freelancers to take away about their future
and their role in this advocacy.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yeah. Well, the freelance workforce is a fragmented workforce and
because of that, every independent worker is open to exploitation
by a client or a company they're working with. And
the message I want freelancers to hear is that you're
not alone, right the freelance I know, the freelance life
can feel isolating, but there's a community of hundreds of
thousands of people just like you that we are working
(12:02):
with to build a unified voice, to to create greater
power within the workforce. So, no matter if you consider
yourself a self employed, a lrepreneur, a gig worker, founder,
or an artist, you know freelancers Union seader to write support,
to advocate on your behalp and to make sure your
workers are respected. So I ask you all to take
(12:22):
the time go on Freelancers Union dot org and look
at the work we're doing and how you can be
more involved in ensuring that we're creating a better and
brighter future for you.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
There are so many resources on the website. What motivates
you personally to do this work? What's your philosophy?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, So, as I mentioned earlier at the top, I
grew up in a community that I felt was often
voiceless in the in the in the governmental process, and
looking at the freelance workforce, I see the same.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
These are These are workers who are fighting to ensure
that government is working more equitably and sharing that all
of its citizens and residents have access to the basic
needs of access to benefits, you know, being able to earn,
earn an income and put food on the table, be
(13:12):
able to raise a family, be able to find affordable housing.
So that's where my passion lize and ensuring that we
are creating a more equitable and just society for all workers.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
You can find out more about the organization at Freelancers
Union dot org. Our guest has been executive director Raphael Espinal.
Thank you for being on to Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Thank you for having me pleasure.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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