Indentured Serfs Demand Their Share

Huffington Post founder Ariana Huffington made a killing when her "progressive" site was bought by AOL. She was able to so, however, on the backs of unpaid laborers, some of whom are fighting back and demanding their share of the pie. From Forbes:

Huffington Post bloggers who think they ought to get paid for their volunteer writing have been litigating their case in the court of public opinion. Now they’re taking it to a real one.

Today, a group of bloggers led by union organizer and journalist Jonathan Tasini filed a class-action suit against the Huffington Post, founder Arianna Huffington, and AOL, which acquired the news-and-blogs site in February.

Tasini, the lead plaintiff, has been a blogger for Huffpo since December 2005, when the site was just seven months old. According to his blogger page, however, he stopped posting on February 10, three days after the purchase of the site by AOL was announced. I emailed him for more information about the suit; he responded by inviting me to participate in a telephone press conference. (Update: On the call this morning, Tasini vowed to make Huffington “a pariah in the progressive community” and said his goal is to set a precedent that writers must share in the value they create.)

Writers? Sharing in the value they create? What a shocking concept!