Canada: The Rising Cost of Working for Free

The Canadian radio show The Current on CBC talked about “intern culture” on October 8th. It was a rare look into the whole phenomenon: why and how students get into internships, what kind of experience they get, and why employers hire interns.

Anya Kamenetz was on the show (and was kind enough to mention this blog). She presented her perspective on how internships do not level the playing field by favoring those who can afford to work for free.

Three former interns tell typical stories of trying to get ahead of each other. One of them talking about an acquaintance who was an intern for five years. It’s a bit sad thought to hear how much they take it for granted that one has to go through internships to enter the job market.

Overall, the tone of the segment was fairly sympathetic to the interns and wary of unfair internships, which is refreshing to hear in mainstream media, especially from those who employ interns.

Madness and Shame

Internships-for-sale spark the outrage of Judith Timson in the Globe and Mail.

I’m no fan of unpaid internships. Not only do they penalize the less-affluent kids who can’t afford to work for free, but they are exploitive. Apparently some kids even consider taking out loans to cover the cost of working for free. This is madness. And shame on companies who encourage this to happen.

Madness and shame are words that should appear more often in articles about unfair internships.

Most said at first that buying an internship for their kid was troubling, to say the least. (I mean where does it end? Buying them a middle manager’s job at IBM when they’re 40?)

Exactly: where does it end? Isn’t the middle manager also learning something and getting a leg up for a senior management position?

Canada: Unfair Internships are illegal there too

The Globe and Mail, a national Canadian newspaper, has an article about unpaid internships with interesting comparisons with the United States.

While most internships in Canada have traditionally been paid, tightening budgets and hiring freezes may mean some stipends for internships may soon disappear, says Bill Weber, Toronto-based head of human resources for Drake International. It’s one step away from what is already happening in the United States, where competition for jobs is even more ferocious – so much so that some eager interns are actually forking over thousands of dollars to pay for the privilege of an internship position.

It illustrates well where the road to unfair internships leads: more unfair internships. No wonder it’s illegal.

The editor of the Toronto edition of Metro, a free newspaper (based in Sweden, of all places), tells the world that it is about to break the law.

Earlier this month, the company’s Toronto office laid off four unionized reporters and columnists, saying it will instead use paid freelancers and wire copy for content, and its unpaid interns for copy-editing functions.

A Canadian lawyer recommends to employers to sign a contract with the intern:

A clear statement that the intern is not an employee and will not receive any remuneration.

Details of the training the intern will receive, how long it will last and how it benefits the intern.

Explicitly state that the internship brings with it no possibility of an offer of employment.

What the level of supervision will be and who will provide it.

Whether the intern’s performance will be reviewed and how.

An ability for the employer to end the internship and how it would be done.

The message remains the same: interns are not free labor.