>> Danielle Grufferty


NUS Vice President (Society and Citizenship)


12 GRADUATE RECRUITER


As the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the National Union of Students (NUS) reach the end of their year-long campaign to protect interns from abuse, Danielle Grufferty, NUS Vice President (Society and Citizenship), explains what prompted the initiative – and why there is still some way to go.


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npaid internships are increasing, despite the fact that more and more people are aware that these only serve a privileged minority. A long-standing practice in the USA, unpaid internships are now widespread in the UK. Within a time of sky-high levels of youth unemployment, it also reflects the desperate measures young people will go to, to follow their chosen career path – or indeed for any job at all. We are clear that this practice is unfair. It contravenes the fundamental principle ‘a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work’. It is a significant issue of social justice. Some young people are able to work for free – however exasperating it might be – whether because they have families who are able to support them, or because their families live in London or the south east and are able to put them up while they work.


For so many people, it simply is not an option. Even those from relatively well-off backgrounds but whose families live outside the south-east stand no chance of paying rent for a room in London for months on end. An NUS YouGov poll conducted in November 2012 found that unpaid internships are widely seen as an


important route into key professions including the media, fashion, finance and politics. 52% of respondents felt internships are an important step for securing a career in politics.


Considering this fact it is highly iniquitous that people


from richer backgrounds are three times more likely to have undertaken unpaid internships than those from poorer backgrounds (those from social classes ABC1 are three times more likely to have done one than those from social classes C2DE).


Almost half those polled feel unpaid internships are unfair. Given their growing importance for access to many competitive career paths, this excludes whole swathes of young people from certain jobs, amplifying a class system which education was meant to silence. The current cost for a university student is many tens of thousands. This means students are paying for their education before being asked to work for free, but only if they can afford to do so. Confused? Please can somebody illuminate some reason here, any justification? I fail to see it. Are we not missing the very purpose of labour laws? Is the fundamental principle not to protect employees?


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