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Nationwide Temp Workers Advocacy Groups 
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Temps Sound-Off  hot.gif (253 bytes)

Free Skills Enhancement and Miscellaneous Services

Non-Profit and Alternative Temp Agencies

Tools for Independent Contractors & Free Agents

Temp Workers Rate Temp Agencies  

Find a New Job

Legal & Government Resources for Temp Workers  hot.gif (253 bytes)

Temp Staffing Industry Trade Associations

 

Nationwide Temp Workers Advocacy Groups
WashTech
WashTech (Washington Alliance of Technology Workers), an organization of hi-tech temp workers, and its founder Marcus Courtney have made great strides for permatemps in Washington state.  Find news, information, articles on compensation, legislation proposals, and other related topics at their information-rich web site.
Temporary Workers Home Base
An online resource for temporary/contingent workers in the heart of Silicon Valley.   Recognizing that corporations in Silicon Valley have been fueling the growth of temp agencies in northern California, Home Base aims to share compelling temp work research, educate temp workers about their rights, and work cooperatively with organizations with similar goals.
Working Today
Working Today offers temps and those who are often self-employed (writers, actors, artists, temps, etc.) group health rate insurance at very competitive prices.  Sara Horowitz and her team in New York City also closely monitor temp workforce trends.  Congratulations to Sara for being a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation award!
Temp Workers Union
Temp union organizing efforts in Silicon Valley and surrounding areas started occurring in the early 1990s.  Ray, who manages this website, asks area temps to get involved by offering any skills available.  Ray has included numerous links to union web sites and online articles relevant to the temporary/contingent work force.
Shupe Contingent Consulting
Cynthia Hunter-Shupe has been temping in Maryland for more than a decade.  With a mouse in hand, she created her first-ever website devoted to both temp workers and client firms.  Cynthia is currently seeking temps to complete her "Secret Temp" survey.
Temp Network
Formerly the Temp Club, the web team behind Temp Network seek to provide temporary workers with resources to temp agencies, contacts, and legislation effecting the temp workforce.  Membership in the Temp Network is free.
NODE
Lowell E. Hoffman serves as president of the National Organization for Downsized Employees (NODE), based in Salt Point, NY.  NODE is a non-profit group that organized in 1994 by several downsized IBM employees.  NODE provides networking support for those downsized from various corporations.
NAPTE
In 1994, the National Association of Part-time and Temporary Employees (NAPTE) was formed by a group of part-time workers who were illegally re-classified as corporate temporaries, minus the company-paid benefits.   Based in Kansas, NAPTE designed the first web site devoted to temporary and contingent workers.  NAPTE membership is open to all non-traditional workers, including those who work in blue collar, white collar, and professional fields.

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Temp Workers Sound-Off
The Temping Guy
New York City temp worker Brian Hassett, author of The Temp Survival Guide:  How to Prosper As an Economic Nomad of the Nineties (available for $26.95; recently reissued by the publisher), has created a web site devoted to enhance the humor in his book. 
Temp Slave
Jeff Kelly is the author of the print zine Temp Slave, available for $3 per copy.  He has now compiled selected issues of his popular zine and wrote a book entitled Best of Temp Slave (available for $10).   
Disgruntled
Author and journalist Daniel S. Levine is the inspiration behind Disgruntled.com.  Daniel has spent years analyzing the workplace and all its complexities from the viewpoint of the worker (including TEMP workers).  He also recently completed another book, appropriately titled  Disgruntled:   The Darker Side of the World of Work (available for $9.60).
Temp Voice
Steve Stewart, a former temp who is now works as a [content] permanent employee, stresses three important questions that temps should never hesitate asking:  What will I be doing?  Where will I work? Who will be my supervisor?  Steve offers more practical advice, bulletin boards, and political questions on this site.
Temp 24-7.com
Suzy DeBlanc, a former temp, was hired by the comic book company Fly Paper Press to pen the web's first temp zine devoted to twenty-something temp workers.   Submit your own temp tales of horror, add to their lexicon of temp terms, or assualt Dear Blabby, the site's over-the-top advice columnist.

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Skills Enhancement and Miscellaneous Services
Typing Master
All temps have dealt with the dreaded typing test imposed by temp agencies.  Now, thanks to Typing Master, temps can practice their key-punching skills on this user-friendly web site.  Test your typing speed and accuracy before registering with that new temp agency.
Learn the Internet
You're on a temp assignment and your supervisor wants you to research the history of hostile mergers in the telecommunications industry.   You panic  and ask your supervisor for assistance.  Your supervisor instructs you to use a search engine, but you're still clueless.  You then decide to call a friend who is temping in another department, and she tells you all about Learn the Internet -- a nifty web site with tutorials in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.  Within ten minutes, you learn to surf the web, post to newsgroups, configure e-mail, and conduct searches.
Mr. Wake Up
You're starting a new temp assignment and need an early morning wake-up call.  Your alarm clock is on the fritz and you're too embarrassed to ask your mother for a fiber optic morning holler.  Instead, you decide to use Mr. Wake Up, a free service where anyone can schedule a wake-up call for any phone number in the U.S.  Simply create a user name, password, and provide Mr. Wake Up with your phone number.  There is one trade-off:  all wake-up calls begin with an advertisement that lasts five-seconds. 
School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR)
Cornell University's School of ILR was the first in the nation devoted to management-labor studies.  Through ILR's dedicated web site, one can search the Martin Catherwood Library for labor-management historical collections and archives; ask a reference librarian for materials relevant to the contingent/temp labor force; or download selected government documents, acquisitions lists, etc.  The ILR Experts Directory lists leading academic-consultants of contemporary workplace issues.

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Non-Profit and Alternative Temp Agencies
Home Temps
A locator service for client firms wanting to use work-at-home secretarial temps.  Temps never pay a fee to use this locator service created by Amy Beth Metz, a working mother.

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Indispensable Tools for Independent Contractors & Free Agents
Contract Employees Handbook
A self-described "gold mine" site that provides contract workers with information on finding your next work assignment, increasing your earning power, dealing effectively with employment agencies, managing your money, and building your own benefits package.
PACE
The Professional Association of Contract Employees (PACE) offers a unique service to technical workers -- the use of the PACE Profit Center.  The PACE Profit Center allows technical workers to design their own "for-profit businesses" while completely bypassing recruiters and agencies, who typically charge outrageously high bill rates and offer little to no benefits. 
Free Agent Nation
Free Agent Nation's site was recently created by Dan Pink, a contributing editor to Fast Company and author of a forth-coming book on the free-agent economy.  Dan defines a free agent as being "a person who works untethered to a big company or large organization. The ranks of free agents include the self-employed, freelancers, temps, home-based business people, independent contractors, solo practitioners, and operators of micro-businesses." 
Contract Employment Daily
A community of contract employees who share industry buzz, workplace horror stories, IRS and legal information, prevailing rates for contractor services, and a lively bulletin board.

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Temp Workers Rate Temp Agencies
Red Guide to NYC Temp Agencies
The Red Guide was created by Angus Grieves-Smith, a doctoral student at the University of New Mexico.   Angus maintains this website of temp watch dogs who offer raw, no-holds-barred reports on temp agencies in New York City.
 

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Find a New Job
NJ Careers
Tired of temping?  Deb Rosen and her "dream team" of career counselors and recruiters designed this site with job-seekers in mind.  Easily navigate for jobs in accounting, administration, education, finance, insurance, marketing, sales, etc.  All jobs, of course, are located in the garden state.

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Legal & Government Resources for Temps
ELAWS Advisors
Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses (ELAWS) is a service provided by the U.S. Department of Labor.  ELAWS advisors help you understand your rights and responsibilities under the employment laws and regulations administered by the Department of Labor (DOL).  Each advisor imitates the interaction you might have with a DOL employment law expert--it asks questions and provides answers based on your responses.
NJ Labor Market Data
The New Jersey Department of Labor created this web site that tracks labor demographics, projections, worker safety statistics, and economic data in the garden state.
Nolo:  the Self-Help Legal Center
Nolo publishes books and articles that are legally relevant to independent contractors, temp workers, and other free agents.

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Temp Staffing Industry Trade Associations
NATSS
Founded in 1966, the National Association of Temporary and Staffing Services (NATSS) is the trade organization for 1,600 of temp agencies and staffing firms across America.  According to their site, NATSS offers their members the following member benefits, "(NATSS) speaks out on behalf of staffing services owners and operators to elected officials, academia, and the media; provide fast, accurate analysis of legislative and regulatory issues; supply information, tailored to their business, on insurance and risk management, employment law, liability, co-employment issues, industry statistics, and smart business practices."
NAPS
Organized in 1961, the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS) is the oldest temp industry organization and currently has over 1,700 dues-paying members.  According to their site, "The mission of National Association of Personnel Services is to proactively serve, protect, inform, and represent all facets of the personnel services industry regarding federal legislation and regulatory issues by providing education, certification, and member services which enhance the ability to conduct business with integrity and competence."

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