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The decision not to privatize Nova Scotia government departments, such as the Registry of Motor Vehicles, was greeted with relief by unionized government employees. For the temporary employees in these departments, there is little to celebrate. A new hiring process this year has made their jobs even less secure and lower paying.
The provincial government, like the federal and city governments, and private industry, is increasingly relying on temporary and contract employees to lower costs. The Toronto Star has reported that one third of all jobs in Ontario are temporary, and there is no reason to believe the situation is different in Nova Scotia. Temporary and seasonal staff work alongside permanent staff, doing the same work, but with less pay, no job security and no benefits. If they miss a day due to illness, they don’t get paid. A statutory holiday is usually a day without pay. If the office closes early due to a snowstorm, their pay is cut.
Years ago, the wages for temporary employees were reasonable, but governments eager to declare savings and efficiencies forced the wages down, often close to minimum wage. People remain eager to fill the jobs, because starting as a temp is usually the only way to secure a government job. If you can survive on the low wages for a few months, or a year, or five years, it might lead to a permanent full time union job. Meanwhile, temporary workers serving the public receive abuse for supposedly having cushy well paid jobs.
In January of this year, the provincial government brought in a new process for hiring temporary employees. Previously, managers would work directly with employment agencies when they needed temporary employees. One agency would usually supply staff for a department, and would have a good understanding of the department’s requirements and working conditions. Now a company called Flextrack supplies the temporary employees, after shopping multiple employment agencies to find the lowest cost labour for each position.
The Flextrack website promises clients save an average of 15 percent on temporary labour costs, however the only way to reduce labour costs is to pay people less. The new process of Flextrack finding the cheapest labour for each posting means the employment agencies have to pay their staff as little as possible, in order to place people. There is limited room for agencies to reduce their fees, as a portion of their fee now goes to Flextrack. In addition, the new process means less chance for experienced employees to obtain repeat assignments, and the possibility of temporary employees in one department being from multiple agencies, both complications that reduce efficiency. Modest savings in labour costs may be lost as efficiency decreases.
Governments at all levels could immediately create thousands of good paying, secure jobs, simply by hiring their long term temporary workers, and paying good wages to seasonal workers. Instead, in the name of fiscal efficiency, they continue to squeeze their lowest paid workers, ensuring large numbers of people are working poor, and contributing to a downward economic spiral that hurts everyone.
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This article appears in Jun 9-15, 2016.
A government agency’s primary purpose is not to create jobs. It is to deliver service. If they can reduce their labor costs, this is a good thing for the system overall as it means funds can go to provide other services. Given these are temporary or seasonal jobs, there should not be long-term harms to those involved as it is not their career.
All employment is temporary.
If you want guaranteed full time employment for 35-40 years you will have to agree to stay with the employer and accept lower compensation than those workers in similar jobs who are without guaranteed employment.
Thank you for bringing attention to this nasty situation. Let’s also remember that many of the people filling these temporary jobs are recent graduates who are looking for a way to get their foot into the door. Government jobs are some of the few desirable jobs in this province compared to what other provinces out west can offer. As a recent graduate, I have yet another reason to leave this province for greener pastures. I have to eat.
Universities are the worst. They cover most of their undergrad classes with contract profs and pay them 1/4 what they pay tenured profs. No benefits, no pension. The universities won’t even pay their share of CPP, claiming the profs are “contractors.” Shabby.
Please address where you propose the income to pay people should come? What new sources do you have in mind? Answer these questions then re-write your article in a balanced fashion.