Permanently Temporary: The Truth About Temp Labor (Full Length) 

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One man’s slavery is another billionaire man’s “maximization of shareholder equity”

This was released over 5 and a half years ago, and I doubt anything's gotten better since

I worked for a temp agency for several years and they promised that once I was at a job for a certain amount of time I would become permanent. Well it was 3 years and the company would give me a small raise or let me take time off with no penalty but I still wasn’t permanent nor did I have full worker benefits. I complained for a long time with other fellow temp workers and one day my then supervisor said “they’re not forcing you to come in here to work…. If you know they’re treating you bad then leave and find something that will better help you financially”. Well I listened to him and left and got a permanent job with benefits. If your able to find another job that gives you more benefits and works better for you then please do it! These rich folks don’t care about us. We have to care about ourselves.

The thing is this doesn't just effect "unskilled workers" it also effects those in the trades welders, mechanics, carpenters etc ive worked at a company where they said they would "transition" you to a full employee in 6 months but I knew people that had been there a year and a half. They did this because if things slow down they could lay us off with out having to tell the shareholders and limit pay for those that where temp workers.

I was a temp in Seattle. There were other 'temps' who were at my place of employment for 7 years. That is 7 years without a single day off with pay, no benefits and half the salary of the real employees. And we were treated as 'less than' the entire time.

This makes me understand why people sell drugs.

It’s incredible how the working class has lost all their benefits because of the greediness of the CEOS. Now we have sweats shop all over USA and the staffing agencies are in charge to hired the employees!!!

“I came here with a lot of hope, but what I found was a lot of abuse”. My god, that’s horrible, to find it on both sides of the border.

There is something about that frail old man in the end that makes me sad, he seems like such a friendly and kind-hearted person.

It's not to keep prices down for consumers. It's about increased margins for greedy companies. Nothing has changed in the last 100 years.

I’m currently In college and is hard (nursing) but I always remind myself that living in a survival mode is even harder.

This has taken an even darker turn since 2020-21

"They call it the American dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it!"

Well that was depressing as fuck.

This guy at the end has me crying I hope and pray that he’s okay and doing slightly better all of these people deserve to make more than a shitty $8 💔 I’m sure it’s even worse now in 2020 but I genuinely want them to just feel okay that’s the minimal human right work should provide. Have a heart.

I am in the process of leaving the " temp industry" . I have worked temp jobs all over the nation for 20+ years . During that time period. I struggled hard and got an education in finance & economics. Three years ago I started a growing business called " Pirate Global Options" . My company is well known in Monaco and Indonesia. I was even interviewed by the ' Wall Street Journal " . Once these temp companies find out how good a worker you are . It's hard for these companies to let you go . I still have old temp companies calling me up to see if I'm coming in . I'm like hell nah are you serious 😂

This is why some countries are pushing for a law that says if you work at a place for a certain amount of time you must be offered full-time employment. A.G.

Thanks for exposing this back in 2014, I can tell you that now in 2019 it hasn't gotten better since....

This makes me so grateful for my job which isn't anything prestigious on any level.

I was a temp worker, trained by "Maximus" company for 3 + months and let go for ostensibly being rude to customer on phone. It was a way for the company to let 25 out of 30 workers go, and not pay unemployment. I took them to court, challenged the company, and won my unemployment case. They train, make u work a few months, promise permanent employment and then let 25 of 30 go. I think maybe this is a way to fulfill equal employment laws regarding hiring. In other words, hiring older, or minority workers and then pushing them out by around 6 mos, when benefits have to kick in,P.S. New York State has now used temp workers to avoid paying benefits. Shame on them.

Pay them enough to stay, don't pay them enough to leave Modern day slavery

How to spot a toxic abusive boss: He has I am the boss mug on his table.

This phenomenon is not restricted to low income manual labor. After the tech bubble burst of 2001 and then the recession of 2008, nearly all IT work has either gone overseas or has become contract temp work. I retired from this field. Where once you could get permanent work with benefits, now you get 6 month contracts if you're lucky. And if you're really lucky you won't have any gaps between contracts. I finally gave up and am living on a small salary at a church and my music and social security income. I know corporate accountants who are now diving school buses just to get regular work and benefits.

1 person getting full time employment out of 50 isn’t something I’d brag about lol but that dude was very proud of that statistic for some reason

This is the rare type of documentary that you’ll only find on VICE.

I remember working at Amazon, it was literally eat sleep work repeat, except sleep got smaller and smaller until I got fired

I’m a temp that is about to be rolled over to permanant forklift driver in a production facility, I worked hard and learned fast and also connected on a personal level with everyone I met so it would be harder for them to just dispose of me. It’s just insane how much pushing my boss had to do to the plant manager to hire me.

I was a temp worker a few years ago to get some money right out of high school and I can't imagine having to do that to provide for your family. The hours were long and the conditions weren't the best. If these billionaire companies weren't so greedy, I think many of these workers could get the money they deserve. working in these conditions is hard and definitely never paid enough.

I wish this was just happening in retail. I worked at AT&T as a Software Engineer and almost all of us there were temp employees. Out of a team of almost 30 people only about 3 of those actually worked for AT&T. There were people on my team that had worked there for around 10 years and were still considered temp employees. It kept them from having to offer any time of insurance, retirement, or any other benefits. It's very disturbing.

I really feel temp agencies should be illegal.

This is so horrifying to me. When that woman looked at her 3 kids who are still in Mexico my heart broke. I wish so badly that I could save every person that is suffering Breaking up the unions was one of the biggest mistakes made in America

I live in Chicago, unfortunately. The neighborhood where he was literally harassing the temp workers in the van is extremely gang affiliated. Vice news should do more research before sending a reporter out like that Lol

Since I was 18 I've been working through temp agencies, and I'm 31 now. I regret that it took me this long to finally realize that temp agencies are just gateways to slave factories. The easily replaceable mentality is real, when you work through a temp agency you really are easily replaceable, it's like you're nothing and you don't matter and they know that people need to work to survive so they take advantage of those who are struggling. Temp agencies really have not changed much since this video was made.

This is my whole life. It’s depressing. It’s disposable. It’s not sustainable in any level. It collapses communities and societies. It fosters the loss of talents, trades, and knowledge. It destroys morale; it kills silently and slowly.

I stopped supporting Amazon and Walmart a long time ago. Consumers truly don’t care to research the company they give their money to, they just care about getting the product the cheapest. It’s sad to see. The fact that large companies can produce and ship products so cheaply is also destroying many small business. There’s no way small businesses can compete.

Bruh who knew the ship at 1:47 would block the Suez Canal 7 urs later lol

Some advice for temp workers (as I was a temp worker myself). Don't dedicate yourself to the company. They are using you as you should be using them - making easy money. Don't stress over the given job. just do it at your own pace. DO NOT work faster or harder than you feel it deserves. If you finish the work faster, they will get rid of you and you lose your potential hours. Take control of what you can, empower yourself. You will find a full time position soon as your resume and character builds. Temp jobs are the best for meeting people and learning different industries to see where you truly belong. edit: I just got to the part about injured workers. Again, they're using you as you should be using them. If it's dangerous, don't do it. You don't give a shit about them and they don't give a shit about you. You're just a temp worker to them lol.

So unfair, makes me never want products from amazon, Walmart etc anymore

I work as a temp up here in Canada and after watching this I'm so glad that my country has employment laws

This effects construction contractors too. I used to sub contract for a big box retail, and I watched them crush small businesses all over the place. Often they would have to bid very low to take the project, and then would get added fees and costs up front and the retailer would put them out of business, and just hire the next low bid. There's no loyalty or leniency. And it leads to low quality work in general. Corporatism is destroying everything.

Temp agencies didn't hired the black dude because he knows his rights.

I worked for temp agencies for about 3 months one year during a rough patch in my life. The experience was horrible. We, as temps, were lied to about what our jobs were and paid low wages for jobs that were complex enough to warrant a healthy amount of training. Speaking out against mistreatment meant being fired on the spot as I experienced. This type of employment is only going to become more prevalent. It feels very third world to me but America can't survive as a leader if it isn't making money. That's a sacrifice our government is willing to allow our industries to make.

I was a temp, deemed independent contractor doing IT work for maybe a half dozen companies. Once I graduated with a degree and and certified in cyber security, I was finally able to get a real job. I probably could have sooner, however you get stuck in a cycle as a temporary employee. Good luck to anyone trying to get out.

I became a temp for a week, they dropped my ass since I wasn't fast enough and they could fill the spot within a week. Now I refuse to ever be a temp again I am happy to be a full-time direct hire

The idea of a big corporation not even calling 911 for you when you have an accident at work is incredibly scary.

I watched this in March 2019 and felt a STRONG needs to see an updated version. Updated.

"Growth". Everytime that word is uttered in a shareholders meeting, a lot of innocents fall into the cracks.

These temp agencies are getting $2 - $9 per hour of work for each employee. It depends on what hourly rate they agreed upon with an agency. One company might pay the agency $14/hr and the employee only gets $9/hr. It happens everywhere... even in your rural areas.

The worst part is the condescending jerk from the temp agency.

it's funny I think about the pictures they post on Facebook with that rich guy that says wake up earlier than everyone else and work harder... these people do just that and only 2% of them will get hired on and make more money I'm sure way less of them will ever get rich.

6 years later; all of the issues presented by this documentary have essentially gone unchanged, and most have arguably gotten worse...

You guys should do a follow up to this story. I feel like this is still happening to people. I've worked through agencies for the last few years and I've seen, been through and heard stories of rough working environments. Things that weren't compliant with OSHA standards. I also worked in a factory where the the agency I was working for also had it's own office on site. I thought agency should be apart from the client and be it's own thing. Plus at this same place thier was also a van that cashed checks thier on paydays so you know something else was going on there. That place had temps working 5 years with no raise unless minimum wage went up.

I'm beginning to understand the millennial's disillusionment with work.

Just as bad is *subcontracting* . I once worked for a large insurance company for what was promised as temp-to-perm. After one year of temping I did get hired full-time and I got benefits, but I was told that I would be working for a subcontractor. I left that job after eight months; I was sick of being treated as an "outsider". Companies may think they're saving money but fact is, if you don't treat your workers properly you're gonna have decreased productivity combined with higher turnover, and that will eat into your profits.

I totally feel these guys pain.. I have a seasonal job at a shipyard where I do pipefitting over the winter.. but in the summer I work temp jobs, I'm currently working for $60 a day at a pizza crust factory.. my heart goes out to the ppl in these jobs! I'm so thankful I have a very high paying job at least half the year! I don't know how ppl can do it.. and alot of times the immigrant workers are soo nice even though their situation sucks!!

Man I worked as a temp labourer before I began my training as a Carpenter - It is unbelievable sad to see people in that situation. You have to wake up at like 5 or 6AM, get super tired and dirty just for very close to minimum wage. A lot of people there couldn't leave temp work because they were so unbelievably poor that they couldn't wait for like 2 or 3 weeks to get a biweekly cheque/check that comes from being a permanent employee at a company. Just thinking about these people and the situation they're in just makes me realize how bad some peoples'' situation is that they have to live like this. It truly makes me depressed thinking of the people I had met when I was a temp worker. I really hope temp workers do find something better - also I want to note that some of these people who stay in temp - day after day , seemingly year after year - just think in terms of today, and today only - as in "I'm taking it day by day" - and next thing you know you've been here year after year and you've lost the chance to get skills and/or education. This is an uncomfortable truth for some (not all).

Meanwhile Jeff Bezos and WalMart family are in the top 10 of the richest people in the world and getting richer by the day

American has unemployment at an all time low, everyone has a bunch of part time jobs paying peanuts, same deal in the UK.

It is modern day slavery. I wish viceland would do an episode on how social security makes it nearly impossible to keep a job and how that system is holding people back from entering the real workforce if recipients can work part time or need to transition from receiving benefits and not receiving benefits. This happens because when you work for less than 18/hr you pay most of your wages or all of them back to the federal government. Then when you work f/t for longer than 3 months your subsidies get terminated making it, now impossible to support yourself. When you work you pay half of your wages to the gov, taxes, then pay to get to work and youre left with, essentially, nothing. So ppl quit jobs in order to re-instate their subsidies, making ppl on ss depend on the Fed gov. Even if you have a degree it can be difficult to get off services and join the workforce pt or ft

I’m a temp working the hardest part is getting that call any day of the week saying sorry we don’t need you ur fired. I had a job working for home goods I guy there did not like me I would defend my self by telling him to leave me alone I just want my check and to go home and we would always act like my boss and complain I was a good worker I unloaded furniture sometime weighing up word of 60-70 pounds by my self one day I was unloading and when I was don’t he told me to recount the trailers despite me writing it all down as I went he complained that I was being in competent and got me fired temp work is a gamble I recommend looking for a temp to hire job ur more likely to get hired and stay with the company

If possible don't ever work at a warehouse unless you need a reality check, or are looking to lose weight. I worked at an Amazon facility for a month, and it was the most soul crushing job I've experienced. It makes working retail at Walmart seem like a dream job in comparison. Warehouse jobs are EXTREMELY easy, but EXTREMELY monotonous. As humans we are not programmed to do the same thing over and over for 10+ hours a day. We need variety to thrive.

The part at the end broke my heart. He left his family and his country to live in a place like that. :(

Worked as a temp early in my career and I alway said to myself never again. As soon as you don’t bend for these companies and the “business need” they dispose of you . A shame! Modern slavery!

I used to be a temp worker and I will never go back to it ever again

I guess poverty is the American Dream

The guy at then end breaks my heart

Loving this one thanks for sharing very information blessed love to all knowledge is power hopefully everyone pays attention keep up the good work 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲

I had a guy I used to work with who worked as a temp for the actual company, for 7 years. All he could get was heath care, no dental, no PTO, no sick leave. I never understood why he stayed that long and didn't look for something better. He eventually got laid off but it might have been for the better for him because they were never ever going to hire him and came up with excuses to keep using his labor to get stuff done.

My mom use to make $15 an hour back in 2004 in South Carolina, now its 2019 she works temp for $9.

I said this 10 years ago. Permanent Temp jobs. Most agencies make 17 an hour and pay the temp worker 8 an hour and keep the rest. Companies do this to avoid paying medical and other benefits to workers. It should be mandatory to hire if you have a company and is constantly in need of "temp" workers. Companies must hire after a certain period. Where is the law for this?

I used to work at a temp agency for 12 bucks an hr and the company would get 300 an hr for my labor, crazy

This makes me so sad....😭 I wish I was a billionaire. I will help all these people pay for the education and mentor them directly. It makes my heart cry to see one take advantage of another because they can

I have a new boss. He is the Director of Special Events. He laid off half of the full-time employees and replaced them with temp workers. They do the same amount of work for 60% of what everyone else gets paid. Our new Director of Special Events received a raise for doing this. We have no union and no collective bargaining power. This is what drove me back into university.

... this is kind of scary. if companies are willing to treat anyone THIS BADLY... it’s just a matter of time before they start treating EVERYONE badly.

I worked as a temp for about a year before realize it was ridiculous and there was frankly no reason to do it. So I went around and filled out applications at local businesses maintaining the temp job while I did so. In about two months I got an interview followed by a job offer, which I took and just didn't bother showing up to the temp anymore. If you work as a temp do yourself a favor, fill out applications everywhere, anywhere and take the first real job offer you get. You can always move up later, but if you're offered a full time position as a real employee, take it. Doesn't matter what the job is. There is zero benefit to working as a temp through a staff agency, only do it if you were desperate for a job and replace that work as soon as possible with a full time position. If you can't find work where you live, then move. Not ideal, but that's life. Between the agency taking it's cut, the lack of benefits, the lack of paid holiday, the lower wage simply because you're a temp, all of this means that you would be better off full time working at Mc Donalds. Unless you're getting paid an absolute chad amount of money, replace that job.

This breaks my heart, these men and women deserve more! How to you expect to earn a living and raise a family?

How many of us are still going to shop at wallmart and amazon after seeing this and complaining about it. WE have to make sacrifices too!

I have a suspicion that there wages are kept low also to keep them from having any time to come up with other options. If yo're working 60+ hours a week with no savings there's no way for your to have time (let a long the energy) to learn about the new country, go to school, learn another language and pay for fees to process your papers. This is why they're specifically popping up in immigrant neighborhoods. They know you're more desperate and vulnerable then american borns. The other sad part is, so much of america's goods are made this way even "made in america" is suspicious. If price isn't an issue, where do I find things that are done with out slave labor? However price IS an issue as many Americans just aren't getting enough work and pay (as the guy in the end has mentioned). Everyone is trained to live and expect certain things so that these mega companies know what to expect on the bottom line.

Wow man. This video needs a re share considering how much progress Amazon and warehousing jobs have been making especially during this pandemic.

This is so sad. Praying for all these employees ❤️

That last scene at 32:15 was heartbreaking. It definitely makes me feel lucky for what I'm fortunate to have.

Come to upstate New York and see how hard hit we are as well. I'm a white, educated 30 year old, and I've had to rely on temp agencies for the past two years almost. It's a god damn shame. It's not only immigrants people, it's white, American as apple pie people too who are getting the shaft.

This is horrible! Why is this allowed in this rich country? Thank you for this report. Workers and customers need to rise up against these monstrous giant heartless businesses

Worked for 3M via a Temp agency for a year. Two weeks of 7pm-7am, then two weeks of 7am-7pm. 1 year contract. Temp workers made $10/hour. You were expected to do the jobs of everyone on the 4 man team, and keep all stations stocked, and keep the floor mopped, and the area clean in general. If you did not do literally every aspect of the job for them, they would not recommend you for full time. Unless you had family who was already full time. Like my shift lead. Who got his 19 year old son hired direct to full time. They put him on forklifts and he busted a pipe and flooded one of the warehouses in his second week. Full time employees got triple pay on Sundays. There were some days they were all getting paid $60+/hour to sit on their asses while I was making $10/hour to do their jobs. Didn't get hired on full time of course. Guessing they were wanting some diversity hires, as they were hiring women after a few months, and leaving the men to work out their full year and letting them go. This is, of course, on top of the rampant racism (small town Missouri) and nepotism. Like I mentioned, if you're in, you're in. If you're not, it's very hard to get in. Nazi "SS" bolts carved into the wall in the bathroom. There was one full timer on another shift, and I was told how one guy had bullied him to tears several times in the past. One guy on another shift was supposed to have the job of QC. He would just write the correct numbers in every time and never actually do the work. Which consisted of lining up a sample on a magnifier and jotting a few numbers down. Literally 5 minutes of 'work' every 30 minutes to an hour, and he couldn't be bothered. But he was 'in' already. So no one would rat him out, and they probably wouldn't fire him if someone did. Another time, the office put out a sign they had knocked up by the big trash compactor that we used to compact paper waste. "Boxes" spelt "Box's", not knowing the difference between too, to, and two. Just covered in errors. Someone came through with a pen one night and corrected them all. This, again, came from the office workers. The most coveted positions in a plant like this. You get the best pay for the most stable and short hours and you do nothing all day. And these jobs and clearly be done by complete idiots, as evidenced by the notices they had to make themselves and weren't handed to them by corporate. Yet they were difficult to get. And held almost exclusively by women. One time, they gathered us all together for a big meeting, basically the plant manager was moving onto greener pastures, and he was saying goodbye, so he gave a big powerpoint thing. No one cared that he was leaving, nor that someone new was coming in. The plant manager was so far beyond the rest of the people there as far as education and means. The other guys on my crew were sat at the very back, laughing at everyone else in quiet snickers like they were back in high school and thought they were the coolest guys ever. It was so cringey to watch it, from every point of view.

Rich get richer and the poor get poorer

this is why you need to learn the system and play it til the wheels fall off! This country is a sham.

oh wow.. this was on during my last year at uni. I honestly didn't know this was an actual thing. All I knew was that I'd graduated into a job market that took savage joy in telling people they were " subcontractors" and not employees... it's a truly awful situation to be in - I do feel for people especially today. But it does generally get better, After 2 and a bit years I was lucky enough to be offered full time permanent employment.. but only after temp contract to temp contract.

Temp agencies take advantage of lower class. Recruiters take advantage of middle class.

When you work full time it should be an human right to earn enough money on one job to live a decent life. What is described here is modern day serfdom/ slavery.

When one person fails, it is easy to blame them for being lazy, or dumb, or difficult, or "not fitting in", or whatever. When a whole society, the richest on Earth, is looking more and more like czarist Russia or other past societies that had a tiny nobility controlling the masses of slave labor, that isn't due to "lazy workers" or "stupid workers" or whatever. It is due to limitless greed.

Go to Elizabeth new New Jersey....theres literally 50 temps on one street

@vice how about a 2021 update/Pt. 2 on this retched situation!?

I did that temp shit for a while when I was younger. Its criminal how some of these companies abuse employees rights to make a dime.

I used to work at as a temp. I got payed less than anyone else doing the same job and I did most of the work.

I been there. I put myself in that position to have to work like this. but I did all I could to get out of that trap and I now work in hvac and I assure you ill never deal with that again. they also not bringing up the fact they are illegal and temp companies help getting them new SSI number every so often.

Those shipping warehouses should be unionized. Just the threat of strike would make management wet themselves since all that work is time sensitive. A work shut down of a week would break them. Maybe that's why they use temps.. so the workers turn over fast and never get to know it other well enough to organize.

Google who owns RU-vid, employs a LOT temps aka contract employees. Even their tech bus drivers are contract employees. Apple wouldn’t all the tech bus drivers to use their bathrooms. The bus drivers had to go to local businesses to use the bathroom. Shameful.

Don't listen to that man at the end who says "there is nothing we can do about this system, and that we have to accept it", he obviously is working for those companies and is paid to say whatever (or since he is older he has simply given up). But there is much we can do about it, and the working people coming together just as workers do in other counties like France and Britain is the beginning. WORKERS MAKE THE COMPANIES MOVE, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

UK is the same as this you know! Apart from having to pay for the taxi rides the wages are dire and working conditions are horrific.