The activity of temp agency wage workers
This article sets out to analyze the activity of wage workers hired by temporary work agencies, the emblematic figure of the new triangular work relations. These relations clearly illustrate the “connective” context in which workers are trapped simultaneously between several action logics, solicited in numerous ways by their environment, and challenged by differentiated relational frameworks. We analyze the experience of these situations, focusing on work as an activity rather than a social relation. We describe perceived work practices, the experience of temp agency workers based on their own perception of their status and working conditions. The two dimensions of the analysis are : a) the relationship between agency workers and their specific work environment, and b) the logic behind using agencies which is at odds with the actual conditions of the work activity. We show that such activity is precarious and bears little meaning and the use of agencies, whether it is strategic or risky, does not really take into account the activity’s characteristics, placing workers in an “opportunistic” relation with their work environment. For them, “real work” resides outside of the “activity”. Our analyses are based on empirical material from forty-two interviews with agency wage earners carried out in 2012 and 2013 in the Québec City and Montreal regions.