Documentary & Discussion: “A Day’s Work” w/ Director David DeSario

A major trend in labor practice in America is the tremendous growth of temporary labor and out-sourced work: a staffing company will be retained by a factory or hotel to provide temporary workers on an “as-needed” basis to do the jobs once filled by full-time employees.

These workers are strangers to the workplace, often poorly trained, without benefits, and with little prospect for advancement. The company takes little notice of their identities, and no responsibility for their welfare. A Day’s Work explores the precarious netherworld of temporary employment.

Dave DeSario is the Director of Temp Worker Justice, a national nonprofit organization that supports temporary workers and workers’ organizations seeking justice and fairness in the workplace. He is a member of the NIOSH NORA Services Sector Committee advising on government research priorities, and a former temp worker. He started his communications career as a freelance reporter for the New York Post website while working as a temp in the basement of an auto parts factory in Queens as it shut down operations and sent its equipment to China and Mexico. He built and maintains the leading online resource for information on the temporary staffing industry and screens A Day’s Work as the centerpiece of efforts to raise awareness and create action for critical issues affecting working people.