Temp Workers Are Good For Avoiding a Living Wage, Healthcare, & Now Safety

“Just as employers use temporary workers instead of permanent ones to save money and drive down wages generally, a new report shows that avoidance of worker safety rules is another dubious “benefit” bosses seek when hiring temps, also called contingent workers. Released last week, the report suggests several reforms, including urging the government to target companies that often use contingent workers and to issue new rules to ensure they get proper safety training and protective equipment.

The report from the nonprofit Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) details the increasing use of contingent workers to perform dangerous, undesirable jobs in industries like farming, construction, warehousing and hotel services. Noting that the number of contingent workers has doubled in twenty years to more than 2.5 million, the report underscores Bureau of Labor Statistics data that they suffer higher rates of injury and death than other employees.The economic and political vulnerability of contingent workers, who are often poor and sometimes undocumented, makes them easy to exploit not only with low wages and long hours, but also with unsafe working conditions. According to the study, because contingent employees rarely have health insurance or even workers’ compensation coverage, employers are able to shift the financial burden of workplace injuries onto the public, and often skimp on safety training of temps.

The recent case of Carlos Centeno is illustrative. In November 2011, Centeno was working for a temp agency and was assigned to a Raani Corp. plant near Chicago. The 500-gallon chemical tank he was cleaning doused him with a 185-degree mixture of water and citric acid, burning him over 80% of his body. When the company refused to call 911, a co-worker drove Centeno to get help, although more than 98 minutes passed before Centeno arrived at a hospital emergency room, and he died a painful death three weeks later. The only safety equipment given to Centeno that day was a pair of latex gloves and rubber boots….”

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