End of employment?

It was warm and all when I was biking to the office this morning. I guess it is not surprising that one starts to think about work when that will occupy one´s life for the next few hours. To be precise, seven and a half.

In my studies and in the dozens of conferences I have attended recently I have heard several statements about the change in the working life. Still I have to say that when last year - working as a freelancer journalist and cultural worker - I had seven employers at the same time, it turned into something concrete in a moment. There are signs of a change. However, I at times have a feeling that its size (at least at the moment) is slightly overestimated.

I started working for the European Cultural Foundation in January and before this my longest contract was for four months. People have been lecturing me about pensions and such but I never really did anything on that. When starting in the Foundation, I had to study for the first time how holidays work and all.

I feel rather privileged at the moment. I have an excellent job for four days a week and then I do different projects on the side. Some of them bring in money, some of them I do just for interest or fun. Although I do not want to push my way of organising my work on all the people in the society, I think I shouldn´t be paying an extra price for mine. At the moment freelancers and researchers are paying in pensions and health insurances the costs of uncertainty. I am rather privileged compared to rather many freelancers. But still I would like to lobby for a system that would break down the traditional one-employer-one-paycheck model.