If this system were victimizing women, minorities, old people or those of a different religion, it would be illegal. But this system victimizes the full spectrum of workers. Most temps work 40 or more hours a week for a poverty wage and receive no benefits. These workers work as hard, if not harder, than regular employees but exist as second-class citizens who can be terminated at any time without recourse. They are disposable people.
Temp services were designed to provide temporary replacements for regular employees. Unfortunately, corporations discovered that no federal or state laws make the abuse of contract labor illegal. Temps became a new source of profit. The profits squeezed from workers then defy gravity and trickle up into the pockets of upper management and the owner class. This exploitation of vulnerable people is the essence of slavery.
Temp labor, as practiced, makes the promise of the Declaration of Independence a lie. All Americans are not created equal before the law and we are not “all in this together.” Corporate greed creates an underclass of hardworking Americans forced to live impoverished lives so CEOs and their minions can live like kings. At a time when corporate profits are at historic highs, the percentage of Americans living in poverty is also at an historic high. If the promises embodied in the Declaration of Independence are to be more than empty promises, “equal pay for equal work” must become the law so that all Americans can enjoy “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Dan Hayes
Piedmont
