Labour Party to investigate ending unpaid internships
As a direct result of Intern Aware’s Labour Leadership campaign, Ed Miliband has made a firm commitment to closely examine the issue of internships in Labour’s policy review. However we are disappointed at the failure to end abuses of young workers within the Labour Party.
During the Labour Leadership campaign Miliband signed Intern Aware’s pledge promising that:
“If I am elected leader of the Labour Party I will campaign for Labour’s Minimum Wage Act to be fully enforced so that employers must pay their interns what they are due.”
In response to calls from Intern Aware this January for Ed Miliband t,o keep his pledge, he has written that:“[The prevalence of unpaid internships] prevents young people with modest means from getting on and achieving their aspirations. It is unfair and unrepresentative, and it must change. I have not taken on unpaid interns to work in my office. I have also encouraged other colleagues in the Labour Party, including members of the shadow cabinet, to do the same – and we will look closely at this issue in our policy review”.
Gus Baker, Co-Director of Intern Aware, said:
“It is highly significant that the Labour Party will be investigating ending unpaid internships. Asking interns to work without pay is corrosive for social mobility, giving opportunities to financially independent young people instead of the most talented. We are concerned to note however that there have been at least 18 documented cases of unpaid internships being advertised within the Labour Party since Ed Miliband became leader. Ed is right to say that this practice is unfair and must be stopped. We welcome the policy review but call on Ed Miliband to make sure all interns in the Labour Party are paid at least the minimum wage.”
Join our campaign to ask the Labour Leadership candidates to back our pledge to make sure employers pay their interns!
We know that there are thousands of interns working for free. We know that the cost of this can be prohibitive to many thousands more. And we know that this injustice leads to lost talent and less social mobility.
The Labour leadership race is an opportunity for our movement. The five candidates say they want a fairer and more equal Britain. Here is a chance for them to prove it. We are asking Diane Abbott, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, David Miliband and Ed Miliband to sign our pledge for fairer internships, pictured below.
Signed:
You Can Help!
Please print off the poster and take a photo of yourself with it. Alternatively, take a photo of yourself with a written message. Or you can just email us a message of support! E: ben[at]internaware.org
Note: Intern Aware is a non-partisan campaign group. We would hope to launch a
similar campaign during a Conservative or Liberal Democrat leadership
election, working with their youth wings, as we are working with Labour Students.
