Temp-ing Fate

A Harrisburg worker finds a permanent job through Council 13's temporary pool.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Angela Wise has had a permanent position with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for two years-but she's been a state employee for four.

Now a member of AFSCME Local 2534, Wise is one of 600 state employees who began as a temporary worker in the state's internal employment pool, and there earned the seniority to bid on a permanent job. The pool is a brainchild of Pennsylvania's Council 13, which negotiates wages and benefits for these workers.

"You know that eventually you're going to be hired permanently," Wise said about working in the pool. "You're working for a purpose."

Applicants to the pool, which provides some 300 temporary clerks, typists and custodians to the state offices in downtown Harrisburg, take a civil service examination. Those who pass are interviewed and placed in the pool.

So far, high demand has ensured that those in the pool work as much and as often as they want. Pool employees are also eligible to become members of the union, and the hours they work give them seniority in bidding on a permanent job and count toward their retirement.

Ed Keller, executive director of Council 13, said he proposed the program six years ago as a response to the state's increased use of private temporary workers.

"It was a win-win proposal," said Keller, who is also an Interna-tional vice president.

In 1990 contract negotiations, Keller suggested that the state could save money by creating its own pool of temps for clerical and custodial positions. Today the program saves the state $1 million each year.

In accordance with the agreement, pool workers are now paid between $6.85 and $7.25 an hour. Council 13 is working on making health care benefits available to them at group rates.

Permanent Dead End. Before joining the pool, Wise worked through a commercial temporary agency. She said the work was unpredictable and the jobs were dead-end.

"They can say they're going to hire you permanently, but they don't because it's cheaper to keep you a temporary," Wise said.

Governments and health care providers, like employers across the country, are relying more heavily on temporary workers. The number of temps is growing at a rate nine times faster than the workforce as a whole, according to the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment.

Council 13's success with its program has ramifications not only for organizing temporary workers, but for organizing any workplace where two groups of people are doing the same work for differing levels of pay. Such situations are likely to become more common under welfare reform.

Handled correctly, however, it's clear that two-tier workplaces don't have to divide a workforce.

"The union's very good to pool employees... [and] the permanent workers are very helpful," Wise said.

Council 13's contract states that pool employees "will not be used to reduce the number of permanent employees" and "will not be assigned to perform duties which are permanent and full-time in nature."

Though Wise qualified to bid on a permanent job after six months, she chose to stay in the pool for two years. A college graduate, she wasn't sure where she wanted to work.

"It gives you an overview of what the state has to offer," Wise said of her time in some half-dozen state offices. She was offered the first job she bid on, in the Department of Transportation.

Getting a state job through the temporary pool opened doors for her, she said. "Working for the state, there are endless opportunities."

By Alison S. Lebwohl