Angel Reyes hauled garbage at the same North York recycling plant for more than five years. But he was dumped from his job in a matter of minutes.

For five years, he worked for minimum wage at the same company without a raise, benefits or security — all because he was technically hired through a temporary agency.

Now, his future looks even shakier. Just one week after sharing his story with the Star, he was told to finish out the hour at the plant and go home.

Almost a month later, he has not been called back. He has not received termination pay. And he has not been given a straight answer as to why he was let go.

“I feel so sad, because I’ve been working there for so long,” he says.

But despite his years of service, Reyes is still trapped by a system that leaves temp workers in no man’s land when things go wrong. His temp agency tells him he should plead his case with the company; the company tells him it’s a matter for the temp agency.

“After five years of loyalty, he gets lets go with less than an hour’s notice, and no one will take responsibility for who’s made the decision to get rid of him,” says Deena Ladd, who heads the Toronto-based labour rights group the Workers’ Action Centre.

“They do not have the integrity or even the humanity to treat him as a decent human being.”

Reyes, a father of three, was hired by Toronto-based United Staffing Services over five years ago and placed as a temp with Canada Fibres recycling plant. He says that by May of this year he was one of the most senior workers on the floor and that his work had never been the subject of criticism by either the agency or the plant.

Yet he had never been offered a permanent job. His wage was $11 an hour, which he says was lower than the wage of workers hired directly by the company. His permanent counterparts also had health benefits.

Ontario’s outdated Employment Standards Act do not limit how long a company can employ a temporary worker before giving them a permanent job. Employers do not have to pay temp workers the same wage as their permanent counter parts, even when they do the same work.

When he spoke to the Star in May, Reyes had a simple request for the company: “Hire me.”

Instead, one week later, Reyes and six temporary colleagues were summoned by United Staffing Services, which has an office at the plant itself, and told to go home.

Reached by the Star, Chris Ilkanic of United Staffing said the plant was “downsizing” and that plant management, not the temp agency, decided who to let go.

Ilkanic added the plant manager told him Reyes had appeared in the Star but “didn’t have any problems with it.”

Reyes says when he approached Canada Fibres’ general manager to plead for his job back, he was batted back to the temp agency.

Reyes says he didn’t get an explanation as to why he was let go and former colleagues told him that several of the temps sent home at the same time are now back on the job.

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Mark Badger, spokesman for Canada Fibres, said the company could not comment on individual employees’ cases because of privacy concerns. He added the company is growing overall and strives to provide a good work environment.

“There are a lot of people who are really proud of what they do here and have worked here for a long time,” he told the Star.

Ladd of the Workers’ Action Centre says the growing use of temps and the unclear relationship between temp agencies, companies and workers makes accountability difficult.

“What this system produces is a second class of workers that can just be let go with complete flexibility. And no one cares.”

In Ontario, agencies are considered the “employer of record” for temps. But labour activists argue that both agencies and their client companies should be held jointly responsible for temp workers’ rights, since both exercise a significant amount of power over workers.

In November, the Ontario government recognized that when it passed Bill 18, which makes both agencies and companies responsible for making sure workers get their wages, public holiday pay and overtime pay. The bill stops short, however, of making both parties responsible for upholding all rights under the Employment Standards Act, including such things as sick pay, termination pay and anti-reprisal provisions.

Reyes has not received any termination pay from United Staffing and it’s unclear whether he will even be entitled to it. That’s because the temp agency offered him night-shift work at the plant.

However, the 61-year-old refugee from El Salvador says the agency has long been aware that he suffers from severe vision problems that prevent him from doing night work. His doctors have recommended he see a specialist and have surgery, but the appointments and procedures aren’t covered by OHIP so he cannot afford them.

“The temp agency just needs to offer him another job even though it’s completely different or inappropriate or impossible . . . And then if (Reyes) says no to that, the agency doesn’t need to pay any termination pay,” says Ladd.

For Reyes, the shock is still raw. On Tuesday, he testified at the provincial’s first public consultation on Ontario’s employment and labour laws, which are currently under review.

“It’s a bad experience,” he told the Ministry of Labour’s special advisers through tears. “They didn’t give me any notice. I didn’t know what was happening. Until now, I don’t know the reason.”