Problem bossy colleagues

LegacyUser

I'm on a long-term temp contract with a group comprised entirely of temps, two of whom started a month before the rest of us. This headstart allowed them to set themselves up with a pretty sweet deal and although we are all supposed to do a bit of everything, they have engineered it so that they get only the easy tasks. Our work is time sensitive and if we get urgent reassignments from other departments they don't contribute, instead calling us back from lunch to do it when they are trained and able to do it themselves (especially when the rest of us aren't there). We do have a manager who is a permanent staff member, but he is very hands-off in his management style and is a manager in name only really. I appreciate they have a month's more experience on the job than us, but they refuse to pull their weight and then berate us for letting urgent stuff go when we're on lunch.

There's also a related issue of cattiness and gossiping/whispering which is plain ridiculous. We don't all have to love everyone we work with but there shouldn't be such a horrible atmosphere either. They watch the rest of us like hawks, whispering amongst themselves within earshot about what so-and-so did or said, never speaking to us just about us. It's really making coming into work every day something we dread, but we have no idea how to handle it. The issues didn't arise until we started because before that it was just the two of them, but I have a feeling the rest of us will be painted as the ones with the bad attitudes. Our manager is a nice guy but I don't think he'll be remotely interested.

BostonB

Put something in place that will track the work, and make you look good and them bad.

doolox

This is the only way to stop this nonsense. Put in a system to track the work done and who did it. Get all the proof and everything in writing, email etc for proof of work done. Organise a meeting with your boss and highlight the bad working atmosphere. Emphasise that as an employee of the company you are entitled to a safe working environment. You are also entitled to a predictable set of breaks and lunch times and shouldn't be on call as the lunchtime is unpaid time. Otherwise you are on a 9 hour day and should be paid accordingly.
If your immediate boss does not take action go higher up the chain of command.

I have had to do this on two occasions in my career and regret I didn't do it earlier as allowing abusive and bullying behaviour is like letting a fire burn out of control. It starts small and then gets bigger putting everyones sanity at risk. Lastly I do not recommend forming deep personal relationships at work, it makes things too complicated. Keep work professional and impersonal and do not hesitate to report any irregularities, slacking off or dodging etc which is probably causing shortfalls and forcing you to work through breaks to make up for your colleagues slacking off.