Tell me if this is fucked...

I'm a temp.  A temp is someone who works a series of entry level positions in factories. There is such thing as office temps... but not with my agency.  This place hires and then underpays skilled tradesman too. Welders, heavy equipment operators, etc etc.  In order to keep the employers/their customers happy, and their own profits up, they pay their temporary workers less than what they would make if they were doing the exact same job, but only hired on as a full time employee.   Companies like this because they can get cheap labor out of it.  They pay the temp agency more than they pay a hired on employee per hour, but they don't pay our benefits or go through any of the human relations required for hiring someone on.  The temp agency takes care of that... minus the benefits.  So it's a win win for the corporations keeping us at work... but for us...

We are stuck between a rock and a hard place.  We have no choice to try our luck at achieving an on-going assignment at a place that hires temps from the temp agency, and into their company, where they get a raise, usually benefits, and all the benefits of a regular and reliable pay check.  These companies are few and far between.  Most of the companies who claim to hire temps, and keep a lucky few temps there for on-going assignments only keep people on for 300 consecutive hours until their contract with the temp agency changes, and they are now allowed to ask for more money for our services.  Instead of hiring these people who have been working for them for the 300 hours, they call the temp agency say "It's not working out" and ask for a new temp... like resetting the odometer.  They have no obligation to hire any of the workers the temp agency sends... it's one of the benefits these companies have when they use these agencies.   Most of the other temporary work is on a day to day basis... so it's worse than working full time at a place you know won't hire you even though they tell you they will so you try and impress them. (The same reason they don't tell people they're laid off until the end of the shift... no decline in employee moral that way... it doesn't effect the efforts and production quality this way) 

Each day at 8 am when the temp agency opens it's doors, we call them in the hopes that they will find work for us.  They put you on the "available" list, and will sometimes call you during the day or evening to work.  There's never usually any notice, because the customer purchasing labor doesn't always give notice... and sometimes don't know if they need the extra hand until a shift starts. Another plus for the customer... they make one phone call and then someone shows up ready to work.  So when they call, you basically drop what you're doing and go to work for the shift... sometimes they may ask you to come in the next day... but it's not very often.  Information is passed through many parties... so it's often late and a tad bit skewed once it gets to the temp... and sometimes even the customer.  I was called into shifts where I wasn't scheduled to work, was sent home, and then was argued with when I asked for my 3.5 hour's pay for showing up... like I was told to do.  

We are also responsible for getting our time documented, signed off on, and submitted on time.  If we don't - we don't get paid.  This is yet another responsibility the companies pay the temp agencies to avoid... and that is then passed down to us.  It's ok... until you get laid off.  Usually an employer will say "I'll sign your hours at the end of the week"... good enough... until you come home from work to the voice mail message telling you not to come in the next day.  Now you have to go into the establishment on your own time to get your time card signed.... when you could have just done it on your last day... but then again that company may not know it's your last day until after your shift... they also often rely on the temp agency to notify people of lay offs... and that information takes a while to get to you... so that's how that happens... but it's still our responsibility.  I've once had to leave another shift early because I needed to get a time card signed at another establishment... because this happened and because I was working again, didn't have the time to make the trip during my off time.  I got in trouble for this... but the temp agency still practices their right not to pay us if we don't get our time cards in before Monday at noon each week.  One time I faxed my time card over, they didn't get it, and I didn't find out that they didn't get it until I realized that my check wasn't deposited in my account.  It took 5 nasty phone calls that resulted in me getting a "strike", which then resulted in me not being able to go onto the "available" list for a week, along with fax records, and a phone call from their customer to sort things out so I could get paid. They weren't going to pay me at all until my boss called and backed me up with my fax records.... I got paid 2 weeks late because they made a mistake they were unwilling to admit to because I didn't call them to confirm that they received my hours.

This is my reality... I've come to terms with this bullshit as I had no choice... I need to work to eat and not be homeless.... all of the companies use temp agencies.. so I need to use the temp agencies.  But here's the kicker.

I just finished working for my dad which helped me accumulate enough combined (with him and temp agency) hours for unemployment.   I plan on going on unemployment so I can get paid for the days when I can't find work through the agencies... I also want to get my welding tickets, which I cannot afford working as a temp with no reliable pay check.  To apply for unemployment, you need a record of employment from all of your employers who's hours you are trying to claim.  I called my temp agencies and asked them for my R.O.E and was faced with some difficulty.  They have both come to the conclusion that they are efficient enough to find everyone enough work to keep anyone off of unemployment... although that's hardly ever the case when I call looking for work.  They say that I must resign as a temp in order to get my record of employment for unemployment.   So... now they aren't just the middle man taking advantage of a corporations need for cheap labor... they are now an insurance company.  I pay into unemployment, out of every check, a side from the taxes I pay for everything else.  Now that it comes time to claim it, and try and pull myself out of this rut of a situation, and I'm faced with reluctant and even irate people who dictate my near future.  I could quit these temp agencies... but then I wouldn't qualify for unemployment... because I quit instead of being a "lack of work case". 

If companies didn't take advantage in a good deal, or found the potential of profiting from the desire for cheap labor of employers, I would have a job.  I wouldn't have to go through the temp agencies to find work.  I would have the same perks as someone who was hired off the street before the company took advantage of temp agencies.  I wouldn't be in a situation with a bunch of other stuck people looking for muchly needed work.  I've gone to places where mostly everyone was a temp, trying to be hired on.... no exaggeration there. 

Some may say that these temp agencies save corporations money so they can hire more people. That may be true... but to what extent?  What about the companies who's employees are 80 percent temps.... I see a company just looking for a deal.  If they can afford 20 temps, they can afford 15 full time workers instead. Sure those 5 people would be out of work, but those 15 people who are working have full time jobs, benefits, and don't have to deal with the bullshit thousands of temps face day to day. People will be getting paid what the company thinks is appropriate.  See most of these companies have no idea what their temps make... its not their say or concern.  They know people are willing to put up with this if they have to... and if people are willing to work for less, with no job security, no benefits... couldn't some of the money that goes to full time workers, who have benefits, who have much higher wages (and who do the same entry level jobs for sometimes nearly the same amount of time), go towards hiring more people? 

I've seen temps run the majority of the entry level jobs in some places... we do the jobs other's don't want to do... and for less than what those other people would be getting paid to do the same thing.  We make mass production possible...  I think we deserve a little better treatment... I should at least be allowed to apply for the unemployment I paid for....

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RJM this is somewhat like a continuation on our conversation a few days back... kinda like your blog.   You talk about fair value based on demand... you say we can't lose when you exchange your surplus for something of value... because if it wasn't fair in the eyes of the ones involved, people wouldn't go for it.   I'm buying into a pile of bullshit that i need to pick through to get to the good parts... the only value they have to me, is the value they've made by monopolizing the industry by providing a new product to meet someone else's demand.... not mine.  Someone else wanted cheaper labor and less responsiblity... I needed a job.... any job I could possibly get... and of course the temp agency was... well you know....