How not to make friends with freelances

The NUJ London Freelance Branch held a special meeting at the union's headquarters at Headland House last night to help redundant staff journalists who have turned freelance.
Apparently one question from the floor did not go down well and was greeted with a terse "no" from a union official on the platform.
The question was : "If you want to get work should you undercut the rates of existing freelances?"
It was pointed out that if everybody did that freelances would be working for nothing. Talking of which, a freelance who recently pitched a feature to a well known quality national was asked: "Is it free?".
It's tough out there.