Major Labor Unions, Advocates Urge Yes Vote on Temp Worker Protections

Senate Scheduled to Take up Measure on Monday after Procedural Error

TRENTON, NJ: Today, more than twenty advocacy organizations, including the state’s leading labor unions, sent a letter to the Senate and Governor Murphy urging swift passage of the Temp Worker Bill of Rights (S511/A1474). The bill passed with bipartisan support in June, but due to a procedural error in the Senate, requires an additional vote on Monday. The bill is sponsored by Senator Joe Cryan and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez.

“More than 127,000 essential workers, who saved countless lives during the pandemic, are counting on you to protect their safety and wellbeing with this critical legislation,” the letter states.

Signatories urged immediate passage of the law, citing that it is both good for business and helps bring equity and and end to dangerous exploitative practices in the industry that impact women and people of color most.

You can read the letter here: Letter of Support_ S511 _ A1474 (Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights) (1).pdf | Powered by Box

Signatories to the letter include: Communications Workers of America New Jersey , AFL-CIO; International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 21; Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 262; Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 108; Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ; Teamsters Joint Council 73; Teamsters Joint Council 53; American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey; CATA Farmworker Support; Clean Water Action; Faith in New Jersey; Ironbound Community Corporation; Make the Road New Jersey; National Employment Law Project; National Organization for Women (NOW) New Jersey; New Labor; New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice; New Jersey Citizen Action; New Jersey Policy Perspective; New Jersey Time to Care Coalition; New Jersey Working Families Party; NJ 11th for Change

Staffing agencies employ a large and growing number of New Jerseyans, often with precarious and dangerous working conditions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are approximately 127,000 workers employed by staffing agencies in New Jersey, where staffing agency employment is growing faster than overall employment: between 2014 and 2017, staffing jobs grew by 10.2 percent, compared to less than 3.6 percent growth for jobs overall.

“Temp” workers’ labor  kept New Jersey afloat through the pandemic in key industries such as manufacturing and warehouse/logistics work. These essential workers, employed through temporary staffing agencies, are a workforce of mostly Black and immigrant workers. Often these essential workers work without basic protections and for the lowest wages, so that food and other supplies are being processed and packaged so that  others can stay safely at home. They risked their own lives to support others to shelter in place in the worst months of the pandemic.