European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Part time work America s new labor trend by William Serrin new York times fundamental change is occurring in the american workplace As More and More employers rely on temporary and part Lime workers. The movement toward these workers and others hired indirectly through such arrangements As leasing and subcontracting represents a substantial reversal of a Iron thai has prevailed in the United Stales Tor More than 50 years. Over that period company personnel policies Union organizing and collective bargaining agreements As Well As legislation have All helped increase Job stability and Protection. Now a weakening of ties Between employee and employer is definitely developing said Thomas Bailey associate research scholar at the conservation of human resources program at Columbia University. Two views exist  the development of Pirl Lime jobs. Many employers and economists say ii provides cheaper goods and services by vastly reducing labor costs they say it also provides extensive flexibility Lor employers and is creating tens of thousands of jobs that otherwise would not be created but Union leaders and other economists say it provides i lie Promise of stability for employees and Ollen Means workers must labor Tor lower wages and fewer benefits than under conventional employment practices. 01 perhaps no benefits. The number of temporary workers part timers and others with few Normal links to firms or individuals hiring them May land at about 30 million. Federal and private labor experts say the fastest growing sector of the Economy More than doubling in employment from 1975 to 1985, is business services where Many contingent workers Are employed according so the Federal Bureau of labor statistics. Al the same Lime the experts say it is difficult to assign precise numbers to the phenomenon because i is Only now beginning to be studied. There is not yet a consensus on defining contingent workers. By some accounting it would appear that they make up at least 27 percent of 1h. Total american work Force. Experts Allsbu a the use of part time workers to increased com Elilion declining Union strength and the rising number of women who to. Such workers have become a management tool said Glen Green regional manager of Kelly services in los Angeles employers who Are his customers need Only pay for exactly what they get he said adding when the need is Over the customer has no further obligation to remain the  Coulm goal work can be a Good starting place when experience in a Field is lacking or not recent As with women who have been out of the Job Market such work can provide great flexibility for people who do not want to work the Lull workweek or want to work Only certain times of the year. Temping was a great Way to build my  said Bill Geraci. 28, of Chicago who has temporary work at encyclopedia Britannica on weekends in addition to his regular cd in a medical Library. In temporary and part time work it retailing in weakening of Between employee and employer. At the same time experts and workers say wages and benefits Are generally Tower than they Are with Lull Tima work and the work has Little stability and generally lit lie possibility or career advancement. People dump on you when you re just a daily temp said Barbara Byrne Walton �8, of Maiden mass sometimes you could sit next to someone All Day and they would t even ask your name.", according to the categories of contingent workers defined by Audrey Freedman. A labor economist at the conference Board a business research organization in new York the number increased by about 25 percent from 1975 to 1985, to 29,5 million irom 23.5 million. Over the Sama period the nation s total civilian employment according to the Bureau of labor statistics Rose by 21 percent to 107,150,000 from 88,752,000. The contingent workers defined by Freedman using Bureau statistics from this Spring include 760,400 temporary workers mostly in offices 2 million employees of companies doing Surh work As computing and private Security Loi Oiher companies and 19.6 million workers employed part time either voluntarily or because they cannot find full Lime work she also counts the nation s 7.8 million sett employed workers partly because they do not have employers to whom they owe allegiance. In addition. She contends that there is Little permanence to much self employed work. Thomas j. Tewes an associate commissioner of labor 700,000 the Groweg number of Teni Sofary workers of statistics said that the Bureau considered Freedman s numbers High in some cases and that there were some duplications among the various Bureau categories. He said for example you can t assume that All self employed workers Are contingent  but Plewes added she s on the right  Freedman who a worked As a consultant id the Bureau is one c the nation s leading experts on the work Force she coined the term contingent  temporary workers have always been used in such Fields As office work retail Selling education agriculture and food processing. The use of Day labor picked up through Union and company hiring Halls was Long a fixture of such industries As construction and the longshore Industry. But experts say the use of Parl time workers is spreading info White Collar and professional occupations and through other industries such As janitorial services Legal services health care private Security and computer and data processing. The Federal government hires workers As temporary for up to four years under a 1985 executive directive. As of last March the government was employing 83,485 workers from secretaries to professionals under this directive. Marcia Freedman a workplace scholar formerly at Columbia University who is now a private consultant said it s no just poor folks it s  she is nol related to Audrey Freedman. Experts said a major reason for the increased use of contingent workers was increased Competition including Competition from foreign companies. They said contingent workers enabled employers to reduce labor costs and reduce or avoid paying benefits. In addition employees can be brought in for Peak work periods and can be hired quickly without advertising interviewing training and paper work. Another reason Audrey Freedman said is thai such workers can provide a Way around Union work rules and in some cases a Way to confront striking unions. The american Telephone & Telegraph co. For example hired Largo forces of temporary workers in a strike by unionized employees last month. As of 1985,18 percent of the work Force in the United Stales was unionized experts said. In the business services sector or example Only about 6 percent of workers Are organized said Wayne j. Howe an economist with the Bureau of labor statistics. He said in was Clear that Many employers were subcontracting work to non Union companies to escape the costs of higher wages benefits and work rules often associated with unionism and that the ability of companies to subcontract seemed to be increased by the declining strength of unions. Page 16 the stars and stripes Friday August 6,1986