Carnets d’un intérimaire
Daniel Martinez
Notice anglaise
Notebooks of a Temporary Worker
Preface by Michel Pialoux
In these notebooks, Daniel Martinez describes his daily routine as a temporary worker in the Bordeaux area. With his accounts of some of the sites, notes on his thoughts and the anger he felt as the trap began closing round him, they are the testimony of a life lived with the constant risks of all that temporary employment entails.
” When I accepted this mission, the Bis Agency told me the only thing it involved was clearing the site and cleaning it up. At the outset, there’d never been any question or mention of transporting glass partition walls. But ” temps. can take anything ”, or so it’s claimed. We were made to carry fireproof glass doors of impressive dimensions. Professional glaziers use handles with powerful rubber suckers that we hadn’t got. As fully qualified professionals, they’re paid a going rate of fifty francs per hour, whereas we get the minimum legal wage, no more.
Worn out and in a total physical and moral daze, we knock off at 6 p.m. I quickly go and phone the agency to claim the risk bonus the glaziers told us about. An embarrassed silence follows, then some evasive replies. The sub-contractor employing us had not taken this kind of step into account in his budget. But I need money, I need to eat. All I can do is keep quiet. How many colleagues of misfortune have I been with who weren’t wearing safety shoes or a safety harness when these were obligatory by law ? How many people have I seen operating a fork-lift truck without the appropriate licence ? What are factory and work inspectors for ? ”
Published: 16/09/2003 – French price : 13.00 Euro – 160 pages – ISBN : 2–7489-0004–9