Under senare år har bemanningsföretag kommit att spela en allt viktigare roll på arbetsmarknaden, såväl i Sverige som i många andra länder. Syftet med denna artikel är att visa hur två arbetarförfattare – Kristian Lundberg och Günter Wallraff – kritiserat denna utveckling, samt att dis- kutera vilken roll arbetarlitteraturen kan spela i kampen om förhållandena på arbetsmarknaden idag.

The aim of this article is to analyse the critique of temporary agency work formulated in the works of the working-class writers Günter Wallraff and Kristian Lundberg, and to discuss the possibilities for working-class literature to intervene in contemporary struggles over conditions on the labour market. My main argument is that in the age of triumphant global capitalism, the position from which Wallraff formulates his critique – a position connected to the idea that the working class is a key ac- tor in the struggle between capitalism and communism – no longer exists. Because of the historical strength of Swedish working-class literature, however, Lundberg can claim a position within the site of literature. Therefore, Lundberg’s aesthetical-political strategy – which is based on giving his social critique a distinct literary form – seems more promising than Wallraff’s.