It's my niece's birthday today and it's an eventful time. Not only is she turning 21 (I think) but she just graduated from UCL (I hear it's a pretty good university ;-) ) and she is now starting an internship at a think tank in Washington. Congratulations on all the good news Z. More importantly she gets a point for giving me a subject to talk about in my blog. Her internship is taking place at a very well known and well funded think tank and yet it is unpaid. I find that absolutely unacceptable. An internship is a full time job often requiring more hours than a normal job as the intern grapples with new requirement and seeks to demonstrate his or her value. An intern cannot have a paying job in parallel so he or she must either have savings from a previous job (in which case why would they now be an intern) or assistance from his or her family. This is a flagrant case of discrimination against people who come from families with limited means. It should be illegal to propose unpaid internships. Interns carry out valuable work and although they are benefiting from the experience the organisations that hire them are also getting value. An intern just like an apprentice should have the right to a minimal subsistence wage.
I don't know if there is an Intern Union in the United States, but if there isn't it's time somebody (you know who you are) founded one!
Have a great time in Washington Z.
I don't know if there is an Intern Union in the United States, but if there isn't it's time somebody (you know who you are) founded one!
Have a great time in Washington Z.
Hey Fab :) Glad you finally came to your senses and acknowledge UCL's fine reputation ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, but I just wanted to say that for the record this particular internship is part time -- they're strict on that I think -- as they take studies and jobs into account.