up front
General secretary Jeremy Dear on the implications of unpaid internships
The scourge of ‘slave labour’
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t’s hard enough to get a job these days without having to compete with an ever growing pool of unpaid labour. Rising unemployment always serves to drive down wages. In professions like journalism it’s worse. Every year thousands of people are working for free. Not just for a week or two, not just doing a recognised work experience placement but doing a job, which should be paid. Employers argue they are just giving someone a chance – and what’s wrong with that? We all wanted our big break at one stage. Unpaid internships for three, six and even 12 months don’t provide opportunity – they restrict access to journalism to those whose parents, family or partners can afford to support them while they help profitable companies turn an even bigger profit. Less than 10 per cent of those entering journalism come from a working class background, just three per cent from homes headed by semi or unskilled workers. The Sutton Trust, which works to improve educational opportunities for young people from non-privileged backgrounds, has raised concerns about a recruitment bias towards people who have been privately educated and attended elite universities. Just four per cent of new entrants come from ethnic minority backgrounds. The NUJ’s own research shows a growing number of people doing six months’ unpaid work placements. And these aren’t just small, struggling companies. They
include the likes of Trinity Mirror, the BBC, IPC, Newsquest and one which kept cropping up – The Independent. Our survey includes companies that can pay their chief executives more than £1m a year but will not pay even the national minimum wage to those who help produce their papers or programmes. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development backs our calls to end this exploitation. The TUC, too, is taking up the issue. Lindsay Nicholson, editorial director of national magazine company Nat Mags, called the practice ‘slave labour’.
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Less than 10 per cent of those entering journalism come from a working class background
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ecently, I met Nick Clegg and media employers about the issue. I am not holding my breath. I met several times with the previous government too. They all talk about tackling the issue and promoting social mobility but nothing changes. The NUJ will not wait around for government. We’ve exposed the issue; now we’re stepping up our campaigns to rid the industry of this exploitation. Model letters to employers are going to chapels and branches; send them to any employer using unpaid work experience, warning them they may face action. The union is preparing test cases in court to seek payment for those wrongly denied a wage. And we have challenged government to put an end to the outrageous practices of auctioning and selling off unpaid work placements and of agencies being set up which secure youngsters an unpaid work placement – for a fee! Work experience can be a vital step to securing a permanent job – we just believe it should be rewarding and rewarded. There are strict legal guidelines about what a genuine work placement or internship should be. The guidelines are on the NUJ’s website. If the work of interns is good enough to be published or broadcast then the journalist is good enough to be paid. It really is about standing up for journalists and journalism.
For all the latest updates from the general secretary visit his blog at: http://jeremydear.blogspot.com theJournalist | 7
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