We got a comment the other day that articulated the turbulent feelings between unions and the staffing industry. In part, it said: “I’ve been to some union meetings… and they talk about temps like we’re a pile of s*** when all we’re doing is working.”
Yet Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local 40, a labor union based in Rocky Hill, CT, has seen fit to open Alloy Sheet Metal Staffing – its own temporary staffing firm.
In fact, in the online version of the Hartford Business Journal David Roche, business manager for Local 40, called the temp staffing model “the wave of the future for this business.”
Hypocrisy? Not really.
Jeremy Zeedyk, a representative of Local 40, says that the staffing agency is “a new idea, for sure” for the world of unions. But they’ve got the business goals right: to keep the labor pool working, and to provide clients a “sample” of their labor for when these companies begin hiring again.
Where a typical staffing firm might be the employer of record for a roster of regular clients, Sheet Metal Staffing has several signatory contractors. These companies have expressed in writing their interest in hiring temporary union sheet metal workers, according to Zeedyk.
Alloy Sheet Metal Staffing performs most of the functions you’d find from a staffing firm hiring non-union temps, including administration of HR, health care and insurance benefits, hiring and training.
And similar to any staffing firm, Alloy maintains a pool of qualified workers. In this case they’re sheet metal workers with a variety of skills including welding, architectural design and testing/adjusting/balancing (TAB) for HVAC. It sends these workers out on a temporary basis to help its contractors fill in during production peaks.
But is this a compliment to the temporary staffing industry in “right to work” states? Not at all.
“It’s not so much that there’s anything wrong with the (non-union) temp model,” said Zeedyk. “It’s more the quality of the work that you get. That’s pretty much the issue there.”
Yep, there’s the issue. I’m not an expert in sheet metal, but it seems to me there are plenty of non-union workers who are just as skilled as their union counterparts.
And the last time I checked, the unions exist to protect workers from unfair labor practices – not so much to set standards for quality.
Still, the union says that you can expect to pay slightly more for a union worker from Alloy than you would for a non-union temp from another temporary staffing provider. That might be because most of the funds for Alloy, which is not a profit-seeking entity, come from union dues. It could also be that Alloy doesn’t charge its clients at the same rates as a traditional firm.
Or, it could be that the union is trying to ride its “quality first” perception all the way to the bank.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Let’s get this straight? You’d pay more for their services and the workers have to pay dues and be a regretful or brainwashed minion in the union on top of the typical temporary staffing company model? Oh joy! This is good for the health of our workforce because……..”Wait, what?”………..An oxymoron: a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms and crafted words to reveal a paradox.
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Per the post below, I have temped through a union. As mentioned, I paid 2% union dues and made twice as much as my staffing agency coworkers. The agency coworkers paid who-knows-what-high-percentage towards their temp agency. And the company paid the same amount for both of us.
Quit trying to validate your job and evil industry.
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Unions went out with disco. They have literally ruined every company and industry that they have been involved with. That’s not disputable. They also make everything more expensive including cars, food, and obviously government.
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If temp workers were unionized, they would make better pay and their company/client wouldn’t have to pay the union any more than a pimping staffing agency. Yes, union employees pay dues, but the percentage is nothing compared to what a staffing agency takes. See post below.
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I actually think it’s a pretty good business plan. As someone who works in the staffing industry, it’s tough to fully vet those types of positions for the appropriate level of skill. We know that unions aren’t going to suddenly take over the industry, so a little competition isn’t a bad thing.
Despite what the author says, I think union ‘temp staffing shops’ have a pretty compelling pitch – get high quality, fully skilled resources for a small, additional premium against us ‘big players’. The client is ensured that they have qualified people, and considering they are paying by the hour, a higher-skilled resource is more likely to get the job done quicker, thus saving the client in soft dollar costs.
I’m not a big fan of unions, but it’s good to see they are realizing the changing marketplace.
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I temped through a union at a major utility company in California. A manager assured me that the company paid the same rate for both union and staffing agency personnel. I paid 2% of my salary to union dues; I was making $30/hr vs. my staffing agency coworkers, who were getting $15/hr. Do the math and let me know which organization, union or staffing agency, was most beneficial to the employee.
In my opinion, the staffing industry needs to be investigated and regulated. They are growth-oriented and parasitic, two characteristics that play havoc with the employees’ job market.
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If you want to be in charge of the money you should start your own business. Nothing is stopping you. And then you can work for thousands of hours for free to start the company while all of your friends are out partying. After all that and you’re finally making money, I am sure you would be happy to let other people tell you how you are going to pay your employees.
Clearly you have never done this or you wouldn’t be so keen on throwing your money away. Paying $30/hr to someone when another person would do the same job for $15/hr is just bad business.
Oh and the government regulation comment? They have really brainwashed you haven’t they? You really do think the government is the answer to all of your prayers don’t you? Hopefully one day they will give you everything!
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amen
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Wow, the dates on all of these responses are all over the place!
Disgruntled certainly doesn’t appear to understanding the staffing industry at all. A “major utility company in California?” One would think that such an entity would continually go out to bid for their staffing business and with that, has very low mark ups. However, for the sake of argument here, let’s use a high one for that scenario at 50%. Believe me, the whole thing just gets worse, the lower the mark up.
Okay, so, Disgruntled is saying that he/she was paid $30 per hour while working along side others doing the same job for $15 per hour and that he was “assured” by the manager that the bill rate was the same for both.
Which pay rate is the bill rate based on? The $15 per hour or the $30 per hour? It would seem that it would have to be based (if it’s the same for both) on the lowest pay per hour because why would a manager okay a bill rate that increases his mark up? So let’s say 50% on the $15 per hour employees. That’s a bill rate of $22.50 per hour.
So, what Disgruntled wants us to believe is that the union staffing service was billing $22.50 and paying him $30 per hour? On what planet? That’s a base loss of $7.50 per hour without considering paying employment costs on that $30 per hour.
Maybe he thinks we all also believe that the world is going to end tomorrow.
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I read it as the company was paying the staffing agency ~ $30/hr while paying the staffing agency employees ~ $15/hr. The company was simutaneously paying the union employee ~ $30 while and not charging the company; the union employee paid dues though. Simple as that and DON’T try to make it more that what it is. And as far as the world ending tomorrow, I don’t think so. You are just desparate to lash out at someone like me, who opposes your business practices.
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When everyone has lost the will to start a business because it is no more profitable then “getting a jobby-job”, who will we all work for?
Oh yeah, the government.
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I find this all too hard to believe. After fighting the media dogs of 2008-12 about how unions were the bane of all that is good in this country, we have this insurgence of temporary services. let me get this straight…the unions (who charge union dues on an average of 2 hours of pay per month) demonized, while you have an ever growing slavery market “the temp to hire services” taking advantage of workers who their wages are garnished by 10-20% an hour? every hour for months on end? sickening!
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Hey Chris, staffing agencies don’t garnish paychecks, they add the markup to the pay rate (called a bill rate). Their customers gladly pay that to not have to worry about employee overhead. The staffing industry is not so much geared toward helping the employees (which a lot of times are happy NOT to be unemployed), but toward helping the companies that use them be more profitable. Unions are not looking out for the company’s best interest and that is why companies prefer staffing agencies.
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I am a temp and don’t debate for a second Union workers are going to tend to be better. They have at least like done their job for more than a week. Being a temp sucks so much, words cannot really describe the uncertainty the dehumanization, the desire you have to “go postal” when that b word at the staffing agency sends your pay check to some closed account a month after the job you busted your ass doing is already over. Being in a union is a dream. If it is any good of a union it makes your work and your whole attitude towards it much better, and employees who feel happy confident and respected are going to do better work than inexperienced afraid bitter beaten down oppressed temps.
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Isn’t it pathetic to see these pimps trying to defend their business? You really told it like it is. Been there, done that. Working for a union, even as a temp, benefits the employees. It’s that simple. No agency, no middleman.
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