There are millions of ways a Association could help. It is just not possible with people who refuse to believe in any community project or think the only way to change things is mass deleting portfolios or directly attack agencies.

Some examples (assuming a association with some basic membership fee):

- File lawsuits against Agencies whenever their decisions are questionable legally. For example, one big agency is giving away our images basically for free through a partnership program. I do not know the legalities, but a competent lawyer surely would find thousands of vulnerable points.

- Engage someone to publish and write articles, investigates and researches situations and give us a voice.

A nice article on petapixel e.g. about the ridiculous Inspection standards on SS for example would be very useful. These thing do not change anything overnight, but it would give us a voice and strengthen our position.

- Write formal letters with explanation requests.

- Control partner programs and intimidate legally Agencies if necessary.

Right now, nobody can really change anything because we would be immediately threatened with account suspension etc.

If there would be a association, I would participate immediately.

A union/association could also "target" the buyers of microstock images by encouraging them to boycott a specific agency that is not paying fairly (i.e. Getty Images low royalties for iStock independent contributors.) Many designers freelance so they would be particularly understanding. This would be significant "leverage."