Protesters gathered outside Oxford Town Hall on Tuesday afternoon, to protest against internships and work experience which do not offer a form of payment or reimbursement for any expenses incurred.
The protesting group, Intern Aware, campaigns for greater equality in the field of internships and work experience. They urged the government to scrap legislation which allows companies to offer internships without payment, claiming that these are “highly unequal and unfair”.
The protest coincided with the Advertising, PR and Marketing Fair going on inside, where certain companies advertising unpaid internships were holding exhibitions.
Third year LMH student Hannah Wilkinson is the Campaign Director for Intern Aware Oxford. She believes that prospective interns from lower-income families will be dissuaded from applying for experience opportunities in some fields because of the financial implications involved in travel and living costs during the period of employment. She also feels that it is unfair for businesses to use interns to execute tasks which deserve a rate of pay.
Wilkinson told Cherwell, “Not only is this damaging for social mobility, but what these businesses are doing is often illegal. We’re talking about big companies with profits in the millions. It’s not like they can’t afford it.”
In a statement released following the protest, Wilkinson said, “If you’re working set hours and doing tasks which contribute to your employer’s business, you are likely to be in legal terms a worker, and entitled to pay. Just because your boss decides to call you an intern, it doesn’t change the law.”
When asked what action the government should take to remedy the problem, Wilkinson stated, “The government should do more to enforce its legislation. There are many cases where individuals have won court cases against companies, but it shouldn’t be up to these individuals to take action”.
Indeed, it appears that Intern Aware’s influence is starting to take hold. So far, they have been successful in convincing the University of Oxford’s Careers Service to stop advertising unpaid work experience placements to students which last longer than two weeks. They are now looking to have the Careers Service remove unpaid placements completely, saying, “We are trying to get people to reconsider taking unpaid internships. Firms will be forced to alter their stance if no-one applies.”
OUSU President Martha Mackenzie has expressed similar feelings on the issue, condemning unpaid internships as “one of the last remaining forms of acceptable exploitation”.
Arguably, part of the problem is ascertaining whether an intern is entitled to payment or not. According to Directgov, the name of the position you hold is of no significance in determining whether you are a “worker” and eligible for National Minimum Wage or a “volunteer” and ineligible. The website says that “You can be a volunteer even if you work under the supervision or control of a manager/director, or you have to meet specific standards or guidelines.”
Second year St Hugh’s student Praful Nargund urged the law to clarify these definitions, saying that he has experienced both a paid internship and unpaid work experience and found “the level of the work to be similar”.
However, he does not foresee a decline in the number of applications for unpaid internship positions, saying, “Competition for internships is so fierce at the moment that people will grab anything they can get”.
He described how companies “shouldn’t take advantage of the fact that most young people see internships primarily as an investment in their futures. Indirectly excluding candidates whose parents are unable to fund their expenses will be damaging to the UK in the long term.”
