Everyday forms of employee resistance

Drawing on empirical material collected from over 250 individuals employed in a variety of short-term positions, this article examines how temporary employees pursue grievances against their employing organizations. The findings indicate that temporary employees generally respond to offensive behavior on the part of their employers in nonaggressive ways. Gossip, toleration, and resignation are popular, while occasionally grievances are expressed by theft, sabotage, or noncooperation. Collective responses, formal complaints, and legal action are rare. These restrained responses are traced not to the severity of injustices but to the social environment associated with temporary employment, where workers are loosely tied to their organizations and one another. This research may help explain the decline of organized resistance in the contemporary workplace.

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