From Inquest:
By 5 a.m., workers have already begun to gather at the labor pool. They sit on rickety benches or upside-down buckets, stretching across the floor once every other space is taken. Pipes leak overhead, and the walls are peeling. The bathroom—when workers are even allowed to use it—reeks. It is not a place anyone wants to be. But for people with criminal records in Florida, labor pools offer a rare opportunity to legally earn money, satisfy court-mandated conditions, and support their families.
Online, temp agencies proclaim: We improve lives. We empower you. Inside—as we have uncovered at our Florida-based worker center, Beyond the Bars—the reality is very different. At the most precarious tier of the temp industry, labor pools operate out of small storefronts called “labor halls,” often in low-income neighborhoods. These agencies hire people for day-to-day manual labor, typically at construction sites doing cleanup. Workers arrive before dawn and wait, sometimes for hours, hoping for a “ticket” assigning them to a job. Pay is daily, unpredictable, and often just enough to keep them afloat. Some workers never get a ticket at all; others remain in a cycle of intermittent, insecure work for years.
More conventional temp agencies are also massively exploitative. Many now operate online, using databases and apps to place workers in assignments. While jobs may last longer and pay weekly, workers often earn low wages and have little control over where or when they work. After criminal background checks are conducted, workers with records are given less desirable jobs, often in warehouses, factories, and hospitality sites. Still, they keep showing up—because probation officers demand proof of employment, because fines can only be deferred for so long, and because the alternative is jail. Continue reading >>>
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