the low road practices of temporary agencies as well as highlight the cozy connections between welfare offices, Workforce Investment Boards and some temporary agencies. Ultimately these groups aim to create viable alternatives to temporary work agencies.

Workfare, the Low Road to No Where
Community organizing groups such as ACORN in New York and Los Angeles, Community Voices Heard (New York City), POWER in San Francisco, and the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, along with allies in organized labor, have fought the use of workfare programs that require welfare recipients to do unpaid work in exchange for welfare benefits. Workfare is the ultimate low road strategy. Workfare workers have been placed in jobs with little or no training, are exposed to dangerous and unsafe conditions, are passed over when permanent positions open up and have been used to displace other (often unionized) workers. Workfare workers, though they often perform work right beside other paid workers, are not seen as workers at all. They do not receive a paycheck. They are not building a work experience record or paying into Social Security, or the Unemployment Insurance System. They do not qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. In fact, attempts have been made to exempt them from wage and hour laws and other labor protections.

Through NCJIS, groups fighting workfare programs have replaced it with a high road approach. They are pushing for - and winning - wagedbased, publicly funded jobs programs that couple education and training with work experience in paid positions with government or non-profit organizations. The NCJIS model for a public jobs program incorporates strong anti-displacement language as well as other worker protections, a mentoring component, paid training closely linked to demand occupations, and work supports and transitional welfare benefits for at least one year. There are about 40 transitional public jobs programs operating around the country. The largest are in Washington State and Philadelphia. Early evaluations of them have shown very promising results. Participants in the programs are providing needed community services, learning jobs skills and moving to permanent employment unlike workfare programs which studies have shown rarely lead to permanent employment.