The Joliet City Council Tuesday unanimously denied a special use permit request to allow a temporary staffing agency at 235 Collins Street, citing concerns about adding another similar business in an area already overrun with them.
The applicant, SureStaff, proposed opening the agency inside the 4,515-square-foot, three-tenant commercial building at the southwest corner of Collins and Benton streets.
Councilwoman Jan Quillman said this stretch on Collins Street already is inundated with similar staffing agency operations. “I wish there could be other businesses there,” she said.
Among those who opposed SureStaff’s proposal was Amy Sanchez of Joliet, who has worked in the temporary work industry. “The temporary and day labor industry preys on communities and demographics that are low income, impacted by incarceration, undocumented and vulnerable,” said Sanchez. “Temp workers are six times more likely to be injured at a workplace, and an overwhelming number of these workers experience wage theft by way of unreported hours.
“Most temp workers are stuck in a rotating door of work assignments with very few being offered full-time permanent work with benefits. I have witnessed the temp industry refer to “buying” people by name, referring to the worker and the contract labor that person comes with,” she added. Sanchez is a member of the Collins Street Neighborhood Council, which also opposed the temporary staffing business.
“The need for temporary labor or third-party logistics is already being met in the community and across the city. To add another agency in this area would not be conducive to the economic potential this area can thrive in,” Sanchez said.
SureStaff specializes in temporary staffing and temp-to-hire, focusing on industrial sectors, logistics, manufacturing productions, assembly, and packaging. Headquartered in Itasca, SureStaff employs more than 30,000 workers annually, serving 800-plus clients with offices in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Texas, and New Jersey.
