Temp Worker Nation -- If You Do Get Hired, It Might Not Be for Long

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/temp-worker-nation-if-you-do-get-hired-it-might-not-be-long



Almost one-third of American workers now do some kind of freelance work—and they lack almost every kind of economic security that permanent full-time workers have traditionally had.

Though exact figures are impossible to find, many experts and labor organizers estimate that about 30 percent of U.S. workers are “contingent.” That means they don’t have a permanent job. They work as freelancers, temporary workers, on contract, or on call, or their employers define them (often illegally) as “independent contractors.”

Their ranks include writers and warehouse workers, janitors and business consultants, truck drivers and graphic designers—and their number is rising. Richard Greenwald, a sociologist of work and professor at St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn, estimates that their share of the U.S. workforce has increased by close to half in the last ten years. In July, Staffing Industry Analysts reported that the average share of contingent workers at companies it surveyed had gone up by one-third since 2009, to 16 percent. Last year, a different survey found that contingent workers averaged 22 percent of the workers at 200 large companies.

These workers are often called the “precariat,” a combination of “precarious” and “proletariat,” because the traditional social safety nets for workers don’t cover them. They have no job security as they hustle from one gig to the next, and they often don’t know where their next job is coming from or when it will come. They very rarely get paid sick days or vacation. They don’t get paid extra for working overtime. They are usually not eligible for unemployment benefits. They generally have to pay both the worker’s and the employer’s share of Social Security taxes. They have to pay for their own health insurance, and Obamacare won’t change that. (Beginning in 2014, people will be able to buy private insurance at group rates, and lower-income and working-class people will get some subsidies to help them pay for it.)

[liberal N proud]

1. Our company has been using temps for several years now.

Foregoing quality for cheap!

Temp workers are not held to the same standard as employees. And the constant training is frustrating.

[tclambert]

4. But they save so much on benefits, 'cause, ya know, temps never get sick

or need a vacation. And if they work temporarily for your company for 30 years, they don't need a pension. You see, slave owners often felt some responsibility for the lives of their slaves. But if they'd had temp slaves, they could just let them go and not worry about how they or their families survived. It's all about morality . . . and how unprofitable that is.

[magical thyme]

6. they can't be held to the same standards

for the same reason you were forgiven for inevitable mistakes back when you were the new one in training.

The burnout after a while is horrific. To be constantly "new," always in learning mode, always the "outsider" to an established group, and always looking for the next gig, is exhausting to the point of debilitating.

[dotymed]

10. One disgusting aspect of theses "temp agencies"

is that they are paid the lions share of the workers pay.
It doesn't make good business sense to "hire" employees and pay the temp agency. They could bypass these agencies and pay the workers more money. Of course, they would still not have benefits, but maybe, under Obamacare, they could afford some type of health insurance. ... Americans are so fucked until they join together and demand change. UNIONIZE!

[HiPointDem]

2. this is becoming normal internationally too.

Temp Workers in Germany Dismay Unions

Temporary employment, already a boom industry in Europe, is about to get more support when the last restrictions on labor mobility among European Union countries fall away on May 1 — coincidentally the day when Europe celebrates the labor movement. Temporary-employment agencies will then be able to recruit workers in low-wage countries like Poland for jobs in Germany and elsewhere.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/business/global/20temp.html?pagewanted=all


Temp employment is currently 11% of the workforce in the EU, but up to 30% in e.g. Spain.

Percent has more than doubled since 2006.

http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-052932_QID_4B1FC767_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=SEX,L,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;AGE,L,Z,0;TIME,C,Z,1;INDICATORS,C,Z,2;&zSelection=DS-052932TIME,2010;DS-052932INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-052932AGE,Y20-64;&rankName1=TIME_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=AGE_1_0_0_0&rankName4=SEX_1_2_0_0&rankName5=GEO_1_2_0_1&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=ROLLING&lang=EN

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/13/business/worldbusiness/13iht-temps.html?pagewanted=all

Also happening in Japan:

The temporary staffing industry in Japan is regulated by the 1985 Worker Dispatch Law...Designed to allow project-based work and temporary staffing in sectors plagued by shortages of highly skilled workers (e.g., software specialists), the 1985 law limited temporary staffing to a "white list" of 13 occupations. But subsequent revisions steadily expanded its range of application...This had the effect of opening most of the labor market to the temporary staffing industry....The result was an enormous expansion of temporary labor in the Japanese labor market....By 2008, short-term contract and temporary staffing workers had increased from a small percentage to more than 30% of the Japanese labor force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haken-giri


Every country is telling its workers "we have to do this to stay competitive". but they don't. who the fuck are they competing with, as the same globocorps own everything everywhere?

[xchrom]

3. +1

[magical thyme]

5. it's a false savings

this quarter they save money. Longer than a single quarter, and they discover the losses to constant training, and inevitable increase in mistakes (and resulting decrease in customer satisfaction) from being constantly "new" at the job costs far more than the savings.

But once they've gone on that downward spiral, good luck getting off.

[LittleGirl]

7. This is one reason I gave up looking for work

I've been in IT for over 20 yrs and have decided never to look for that type of work again. I am fortunate, as my husband makes enough for us to survive without my help.

I posted my resume on those famous web sites and got a few calls from recruiters. They offered me temp positions for pay that I got back in '90-95 and for positions that I did back then and not for positions that I was actually qualified to do now.

I got a bit sarcastic and angry with one and asked if he'd like to go back to kindergarten? He kinda of snickered and he never bothered me again.

[Did I Just Type This]

8. 35% in Australia

My company (a large international investment bank) has been using "contract" workers since the crash. They now make up more than half the IT staff (the ones left in the building, the rest were outsourced to Poland) I was almost fired for using the term outsourced, it is referred to as resource reallocation. They also make up 40% of all departments, if we are lucky enough to get a member replaced that is. Usually how it goes is...one person leaves and the rest absorb the work. Then the second person leaves and a contract worker with no benefits, vacations, or sick days comes in and in our case is given cart blanche to do as much (or as little) as they want. This policy is particularly frustrating because the "contract workers" spend all morning eating breakfast at their desks followed by hanging out with other contract workers until 11am before they actually log in. The managers don't dare fire them, if they are fired, our department will not get a new req approved to replace them.

[JDPriestly]

9. I worked temps during a couple of periods of my life

and was hired "full-time" but really temporarily at other times.

Temps need to form their own union. That's the only way they will insure that they have some security in their lives.

I would have joined a union had one been available for me.