Christopher Westley

Temporary employees, along with part-time and contract workers, make up the "contingent" workforce, which encompasses 30 percent of U.S. workers. The use of temporary employees doubled in the 1990s as employers attempted to circumvent costly union regulations regarding the hiring, wages, and benefits of permanent, full-time employees. Christopher Westley maintains in the following viewpoint that efforts to unionize temporary workers will hurt the U.S. economy by reducing employer flexibility in the management of workforces. Unionization of temporary workers is destined to fail and will only entangle the labor market in more regulations, in the author's opinion. Westley teaches economics at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama.

As you read, consider the following questions:
1. How do unions cause employers to lose labor flexibility, in the author's opinion"
2. According to Westley...