New poll: Working people reject unpaid internships

A poll of 1,163 people in full and part time work, performed by Survation as part of the Unions21 Fair Work Commission, has found 7 in 10 working people (71%) say employers should always pay interns for work they carry out.

The majority of those expressing a preference (43.3% YES / 34.7% NO) went as far as saying adverts for unpaid internships should be made illegal.

These results are in line with growing concern that unpaid work — of all varieties — is substituting paid work and that people who would otherwise be working for a fair wage are losing out.

Unions have called for better enforcement of the NMW by Her Majesty’s Customs and Revenue (HMRC). The campaign organisation Intern Aware has helped interns win back over £10,000  since the start of the year, including most recently from Harrods.

Hazel Blears secured cross-party support for a 10-minute-rule bill to outlaw the advertising of unpaid internships.

Martin Bright asked on the Spectator Blog this week if, under this mounting pressure, 2013 might see an end to internships.

The LRD highlights in their review of unpaid work that the IPPR estimated in 2010 that there were around 100,000 unpaid internships throughout the UK. Earlier this year Volunteering England, a charity that supports and promotes volunteering, reported that the issue of job substitution, when volunteers replace paid staff, “has become critical”. The government’s Graduate Talent Pool website, where around 60% of vacancies are unpaid included unpaid tax assistants, business administrators and engineers.

Through the Fair Work Commission Unions21 are looking at the increasing problem of unpaid work.

The struggle for paid work

As part of BECTU’s efforts to support the most vulnerable in their sector they have this week launched a new campaign – Say No to Exploitation in TV – Follow the campaign on twitter @nototvabuse

To work for free or not to work for free?

That’s the question which new entrants, particularly in TV and film, continue to struggle with due to weak regulation of the national minimum wage. With resources clearly stretched at the HMRC’s Compliance Unit, there is currently little to stop employers who are happy to break the law.

Let’s be honest, no one would work for free unless they thought they absolutely had to to get a handle on their career. The fault lies with employers who succeed in exploiting the huge interest in work in the creative sectors, so much so that young people believe they have to work for free to gain experience. And let’s be clear, we are talking about proper work here – work which but for the huge oversupply of labour at new entrant level would be paid for. That’s work as distinct from work experience which industry guidance says can be unpaid for a maximum of four weeks as part of a course of study. Read More…