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Workers' Complaints put Spotlight on Low Wages at Nation's Largest Temporary Agency
Workers earn an average $7 an hour at Labor Ready, the nation's largest temporary employment agency, according to surveys of several hundred workers. Steve Rough (above) says the company routinely charges $1.50 to cash workers’ daily paychecks. |
Interviews with Labor Ready workers conducted by the Center for a Changing Workforce (CFCW) and the AFL-CIO revealed that average wages for temporary work in Seattle are $7 an hour even though 80 percent of the assignments are construction work, which typically has much higher pay and benefits.
Steve Rough, a Lake City finish carpenter, has been getting daily assignments for over a year as a flagger at the Labor Ready office on Aurora Avenue North in North Seattle. He has been unable to do carpentry work because of an arm injury.
Rough says Labor Ready charges contractors $29.08 for his services, of which he is paid $10 an hour. He gets no health insurance, pension contributions or any other fringe benefits. Labor Ready routinely pays workers in vouchers which can only be cashed at machines in the Labor Ready office for a $1.50 fee, Rough said. Workers who need transportation are charged $2 to $5 for rides to and from the job.
Labor Ready requires workers to report at 5:30 a.m. and then return at the end of the day to get paid. Workers often spend three or more non-working hours per day under Labor Ready's control, but aren't paid for those hours, the CFCW report said.
A CFCW study found that more than 400,000 people, 30 percent of Washington's workforce, are involuntarily doing "contingent work."
Temporary workers are often hired as scabs when union workers go out on strike, according to Sweeney.
He spoke at a Labor Ready stockholders' meeting in Tacoma last week, "to shine a bright spotlight on a company that still hasn't learned that its most valuable asset is the people who do the work. Even in this new survival-of-the-fittest economy, you won't succeed for long by exploiting workers."
The Labor Federation bought some stock in the firm so they could participate in the company's annual meeting and suggest some reasons for the firm's falling stock prices.
"Savvy investors understand that the quickest way to destroy the value of their stock and put their investment at risk is by exploiting workers.
"We believe that is exactly what has happened to Labor Ready, that the plummeting value of its stock is a direct result of its poor treatment of workers, "Sweeney said.
The labor federation also charged that Labor Ready under-contributes to the Washington Workers Compensation system, since they claim most of their assignments are for white-collar jobs which have lower risk and a lower insurance premium than construction work. But the union's surveys show that 80 percent of work assignments are for construction work and other high-risk jobs.
Steve Rough has been helping CFCW and the unions to contact other Labor Ready workers to document problems they face in the temporary labor market.
"I figure I'll never work at Labor Ready again, because they've seen me talking to the union guys. They warned me not to go to the rally...made some kind of vague threat about legal action if I went."
But Rough says he wants to help end the low wages, favoritism and unfair treatment he has seen in Labor Ready's hiring halls. Rough is taking college classes in counseling and religious studies. In the long run, he wants to set up a ministry to help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. For the short run, Rough hopes to join the laborers' union, where the hourly wage starts at $22.
Reader Comments
Discuss this article in the forums!
| Chasity Anelon | Jun 30, 2003 | Iliamna | Iliamna Road Planner/Secretary |
| Hi I've recently recieved my hazwoper card and also a flagger certification card and I was wondering if you have any jobs for me to attend to. Thank you for your time I would enjoy to hear from you. My phone # is 907-571-1295 Sincerely, Chasity Anelon | |||
| Dave Parks | Oct 27, 2005 | Arizona | Retired |
| I've used Labor Ready off and on for pocket money, and I have to agree Rough, named in the article, that Labor Ready HAS to be making a bundle by using the states minimum wage as a shield. Here in AZ minimum wage is $5.15 and hour...I was told that on my last job I was doing well to get $5.25 an hour. After eight and a half hours of digging a ditch I didn't feel fortunate... | |||
