Chicago Workers Collaborative News Today

The Temp Worker Fairness and Safety Act aims to prevent ‘permatemping,’ where an employer keeps a temp worker indefinitely, by requiring that employers pay temps similar wages as direct hires after 90 days on the job.

(The Center Square) – Legislation significantly increasing the rights and pay for temporary workers in Illinois is now law. Business groups say the law will have negative consequences. Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently signed...

(The Center Square) – Legislation significantly increasing regulations on Illinois businesses who use temporary workers, including mandating pay rates, is now law. Business groups say the law will have negative

Illinois regulations requiring staffing firms to provide equal pay and benefits to temporary workers was signed into law.

For the last two decades, Brisa Chavez, of Cicero, Illinois, has found work through staffing agencies. Like many immigrants, the single mother has been able to find work through temp agencies because they require less paperwork and less schooling than being hired by a company directly, she said. “Unfortunately, we are also more at risk of suffering abuse in the workplace,” she said. Chavez ...

A new law aimed at strengthening legal protections for temp workers could help those who are subject to low pay and exploitation because of their employment status, advocates say.

For the last two decades, Brisa Chavez, of Cicero, has found work through staffing agencies. Like many immigrants, the single mother has been able to find work through temp agencies because they require less paperwork and less schooling than being hired by a company directly, she said. “Unfortunately, we are also more at risk of suffering abuse in the workplace,” she said. Chavez said she had ...

CHICAGO—Bags of clothing, rolled up and unrolled thin mattresses, pillows just purchased at a Family Dollar store, and blankets were all over the floors with children, women, and men crowded together under and on top of those blankets. The lucky ones had their heads on an available pillow.

Illinois workers rights groups claim children are working illegally in warehouses in Bolingbrook and they are pushing for laws to stop the practice and to protect whistleblowers.

The coalition’s initial proposal would cover all employers in Illinois and all employees who earn at least $1,600 annually. Paid leave would also apply to contract workers.