No, this is terrible practise. I can completely understand them getting rid of the union because their workers tend to be expensive and there can be trouble. But at the same time, if you get rid of them, get rid of them! Don't hire them back with no benefits via a temp agency-all that will do is leave an angry work force!

What a horrible thing to do! I would bet we'll see more of this type of thing though. Companies are looking to save a buck anyway they can these days and they are starting to do some pretty dirty things in the name of saving money.

I work in an office where all the employees are contract workers. We don't get paid well and we get treated like crap. On the other hand the company got rid of our predecessors because the office was one day long party and the work that was getting done was not being done well. The company was losing money and would have closed had they not taken strong measures to turn it around. Two extremes. I would love to find a job where things are more in balance.

More and more companies are trimming the fat so to speak due to the economic times. The company I used to work for had a bunch of contractors and they actually did most of the work. It was funny to watch the company report the bigger profits coming from the groups with a bunch of contractors versus the groups with mostly permanent employees. It seemed like the contractors actually did work while the permanent employees were more interested in playing politics and trying to keep from being laid off due to their limited skillsets. Very funny to sit back and watch that business model in play.

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Fitty