by René Lavanchy
David Cameron has done it; Labour ministers have done it. But a new union-backed campaign is asking MPs to stop employing unpaid interns – and calling for companies to be forced to do the same.
The Intern Aware campaign launched last week says interns should be paid at least the minimum wage by removing “loopholes” from the law. The movement, backed by the National Union of Students and Unite’s parliamentary branch, is responding to former minister Alan Milburn’s report to the Government on access to professions, which said that unpaid work experience was inaccessible to young people from poorer backgrounds.
Gus Baker, 19, an organiser and politics student, said: “Doing a summer internship is the equivalent of going to Eton. From video games to fashion, you need to do a serious amount of work for free before you’re going to get any work at all.”
He reported a case of an unpaid intern in David Cameron’s Commons office who had to quit to work in Sainsbury’s after running out of money. Mr Baker himself has worked for a Government minister who was unwilling to pay.
“I was sending people emails explaining how brilliant the minimum wage was, which seemed unfair”, he added.
