Jackson Free Press

In The Clarion-Ledger story this morning about the Council's effort to regulate the mayor's ability to hire so many temporary workers for undefined lengths of time, the mayor demonstrates why the unions got behind his candidacy.

Mayor Frank Melton said temporary workers save money. They are paid a salary and receive no insurance, vacation time or other perks regular workers receive. "At the end of the day, what you're going to find is that you don't have to pay the benefits," Melton said. "And that saves the taxpayers money. We've told them that three times. I really have nothing else to say to the council on that." Read full story.

Also, remember that Melton union-busted when he first came to WLBT.

Could someone please explain to me why Brenda Scott and the AFL-CIO folks here love him so much? This union support has long befuddled us here at the JFP.

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And you have to love this from Bluntson: "They are going after the temps because they've got one or two people who are working and are outspoken," Bluntson said. "One of them is Bob Higginbotham. And you can quote me on that. Evidently, they don't like a person to have freedom of speech. They are outspoken on everything." Higginbotham works as an inspector in Public Works. He has been a temporary worker since August 2005. Higginbotham earns $16 per hour and has called himself a consultant for Melton. Outspoken!?! No, Other Frank, community concern is that a political operative/garbage man is being paid by the city with no accountability for his actions. And I believe it's Hickingbottom, not Higginbottom.

DonnaLadd

Sep 24 2007

And I believe it's Hickingbottom, not Higginbottom. HAHAHA! LMAO....That's funny ladd...

Queen601

Sep 24 2007

If Hickgbottom is being paid $16/hour, the temp agency is getting at least $24/hour or more - and temps get overtime. This is calculated differently in different states. In some places, it's 1.5 x the hourly rate if the temp works more than 8 hrs/day. In others, it's 1.5 x the hourly rate if the temp works over 40 hours a week - but temps are not paid 'salaries' as such. Agencies often get twice what an employee gets. Add what the temp agency gets to the mix and it's usually more than what an employer would have to pay if paying insurance, vacation time, etc., the only difference being where the money goes. The advantage to employers of using temps is being able to fire them with ease, not that it costs less money, plus the fact that the agency does the preliminary checking of a worker's job history, etc. - not including drug tests for any temp agency I've ever dealt with. I've both worked as a temp and hired and paid temps, so I know the system. In the city's case it strikes me as a way to bypass the unions, so yes, I have to wonder, too, why a union would support a mayor who wants to hire temps. In fact, if a temp proves to be good at a job and am employer wants to hire him/her permanently, the employer has the option of buying his contract from the temp agency. Why would an employer want to do that? Because it saves the employer money. Instead of paying an agency $32/hour for the temp's time, the employer can continue to pay the temp $16/hour and pay the benefits and come out far ahead of what it has to pay the temp agency.

lucdix

Sep 24 2007

I see that I've misspelled his name, too - not intentionally. Where can we find the definitive spelling of his name? I just checked 'answers.com' for what it has to say about temp workers: http://www.answers.com/topic/temporary-work and in it is this statement: "Temporary agencies usually are paid approximately twice the hourly rate of the actual payment given to the placed employee. For example, if a secretary is temporarily placed by an agency, the agency may charge the company $15.00 an hour, but give $7.50 an hour to the worker." Out of the $7.50/hour a secretary, in this case, gets, come the usual taxes - income, SSI, etc. If the city hired a secretary at $15/hour it could rehire him/her as a city employee for, say, $10/hr., still save money, and both would come out ahead. Generally speaking a temp has to work a certain number of months before an agency will let an employer buy out his/her contract, the purchase amount decreasing the more time the employee has worked.

lucdix

Sep 24 2007

Its obvious that the City Council is still not getting full disclosure and complete information on temporary workers hired by the city. Mr. Bluntson, did the city hire Bob H. so that he could express himself and his devotion to Uncle Frank, or was he hired to do a job. I can't tell from your comments.

lanier77

Sep 24 2007

Bluntson is in left field and should never have been voted into that office. His history STINKS and he is forever talking about putting people behind bars. If the truth were told, Bluntson would be behind bars. melton got rid of the Union at WLBT. This was one of the 1st things on his agenda. He boast about temp. workers saving so much money. A person working without insurance benefits falls at the mercy of the community for health care if they get ill or hurt. The extra money that goes to the Temp agency could pay for the policy. Think about it.

justjess

Sep 24 2007

Someone double-check me, but I do not believe Hickingbottom (Bottomhickey?) was hired through a temp agency. He was just hired and called "temporary."

Rex

Sep 24 2007