Last week, 30,000 summer interns descended on Washington, D.C., to toil for tiny wages in policy shops, think tanks, the White House and, yes, labor unions. Despite the sweat, for many it’s a rewarding experience, helping them develop the skills and street smarts needed for success in life and career. Countless union and civic leaders, and even members of Congress, were once interns themselves. But there’s a dark side too. Interns are at the crest of a wave of unpaid and underpaid contingent labor that increasingly does the work that full-time employees used to do.
Interns employed in D.C.’s web of progressive organizations often spend their days fighting for a living wage, but some don’t make even a dime, much less the current minimum wage. Some organizations offer “opportunities” for college credit or a small stipend, which is not sufficient for them to live and eat in one of America’s most expensive cities. Now, thanks to the organizing work of one savvy group of union interns, the tide may be about to turn.
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Despite all this...........there is never a time to unionize.
ReplyDeleteThey choose this lifestyle for a chance to become the entrenched policy makers we so dispise.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 7:52am. The choice are theirs to make. The government is counting on desperately cheap laborers. Hell, politicians tips well. I don't see Monica Lewinsky suffering financially after all these years. Unions need to help folks working in retails stores, restaurants, gas stations; all those minimum wages jobs.
ReplyDeleteestaurants
A minimum wage job minus union dues is less than minimum wage!
ReplyDeleteWell, if they unionize, then as a business owner, I just wont offer internships. We spend time training them and they usually just take up time and make our job harder. As a business, we are offering FREE training and educating them in the real world. Trust me...I dont need interns at my shop and wont EVER offer an internship if we have to pay them or if they unionize.People say that we are just looking for free labor, but let me re-emphasize that they take up a lot of our time and we seem to get a lot less done when they are in our shop.
ReplyDelete