Stiffed Competition for Freelancers

In the misery has company department: Rutgers University released a study last week showing that freelancers in New York City are getting stiffed on fees even more than usual during the Great Recession.  According to the Rutgers survey, tardy or truant employers owed New York freelancers an average of $12,000 last year.  Out of 900,000 independent workers, more than 35% had to wait on late payments and 14% didn't see a penny of fees they were owed.  And, not surprisingly in this challenging economy, many freelancers feel hobbled by the threat of being branded as "hard to handle" or demanding.

There is a sliver of good news here, though.  Crain's New York Business reports that our friends at the Freelancers Union, which has been gathering substantial political clout, are on the warpath against this upturn in lowdown behavior, setting up websites to "out" non-payers, postering subway cars and lobbying for bills in the New York state legislature that would compel contractors to pony up on time or face stiff fines.

We're curious to hear from our freelancing writing friends about this trend.  Have you encountered more deadbeats in this dead economy?  Care to share any effective tricks you've used to get the shirkers to settle up?