FEATURE UNWISE UNPAID, UNFAIR,
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.
Our economy is floundering. So when an employer says they will ‘let’ young people work for free on the vague promise of paying jobs later, they will find desperate people to do it. Just like they found people desperate enough to go into a mine with no safety equipment, to work 17 hours a day for seven days a week. Just because people are willing to do it, can we really just let the market take over and let it happen?
Getting young people and multi-disadvantaged groups into work delivers positive social outcomes, ensures a more representative workforce and boosts every employer’s reputation. It builds a fair and equitable society. Isn’t that what we should all aspire to? The last 12 months have been significant in the campaign against unpaid internships. We saw the publication of Alan Milburn’s report as the Government’s Social Mobility Tsar on Access to Professional Careers, in which he argued that “unpaid internships clearly disadvantage those from less affluent backgrounds who cannot afford to work for free for any length of time”, and that there should instead be “proper, transparent and fair processes for selection and reasonable terms of employment, including remuneration for internships. (He also argued that NUS and the TUC should work with the Cabinet Office to ensure that this happens). The TUC launched their smart phone app, which allows individuals to work out whether their internship is legal or
not, and whether it is of a decent quality – and even provides a calculator by which those who have undertaken unpaid internships can determine how much they should have been paid, and contact HMRC to raise this violation of minimum wage legislation! And we saw MPs debate the issue, in a bill put forward by the former Communities Secretary Hazel Blears MP, which proposes a ban on advertising unpaid internships – at present, the onus falls entirely on the individual ‘unpaid interns’ to raise their case with HMRC. Understandably, most people who undertake unpaid internships do not want to undermine the relationships they have developed by subsequently taking their ‘employer’ to court – but this allows employers to get away with it, and even to think that there is no issue here. And of course a ban on advertising unpaid internships would go a long way to increasing awareness as to the illegality of not paying your workers. We need to continue this good work over the next year. This will involve pushing Government to legislate to close the current loopholes that exist around the practice of unpaid internships, and ensuring that minimum wage legislation is upheld. But it also involves celebrating best practice from employers. Many already recognise not only that high quality, well structured, paid internships are not only fairer, but are good business practice – widening the pool of people they can draw on in their recruitment, and ensuring that their staff are not limited to a very narrow pool of society. Together, as unions, students, graduates and employers we can put an end to the unfair, misguided use of unpaid interns, and instead develop excellent opportunities for young people to develop skills and progress within their chosen careers.
WHAT THEY SAY…
TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady “Whether they are unscrupulous or genuinely unaware of the rules, too many employers are ripping off young people by employing them in unpaid internships that are not only unfair but, in most cases, probably illegal. “Internships can offer a kick-start to a career that many young people value. But as more and more graduates are being forced to turn to internships in place of traditional entry level jobs, we’re concerned that a growing number of interns are at risk of real exploitation.
“It is vital that we crack down on those internships that offer little but hard graft for no reward. Employers need to know that there’s no such thing as free labour.’
‘Fair Access to Professional Careers’, Alan Milburn, independent reviewer on social mobility ‘[Internships] should be subject to similar rules to other parts of the labour market. That means introducing proper, transparent, and fair process for selection and reasonable terms of employment, including remuneration for internships.’
GRADUATE RECRUITER 13
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