What are your views on government plans (worldwide) for abolishing wages for student interns?
Many companies have already stopped paying students on placements so they must cover all costs themselves.
Re: Slave labour?
Companies here in Pakistan already abuse the tag of 'interns' for cheap labour, it would come as a shock to me if the same was done around the world. How exactly is this a 'worldwide' plan btw?
Re: Slave labour?
Yeah it’s slavery allright.
Welcome to the world of the Student… what we need is a revolution! :faris:
Re: Slave labour?
That's perfectly fine. Student's are going to spend money on drugs, chicks, alcohol, parties.. any way.
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An engineering student cannot do what a qualified engineer can do, also internship is not a job, its a part of your studies. You dont get paid for attending the course of Business Analysis 101, right? Then why would you expect to get paid for an internship.
Re: Slave labour?
exactly, hence it must be banned. Well on the lighter side, i recommend at least two time meals for interns, enough to keep them alive 
ps. i am not a student any more 
Re: Slave labour?
An engineering student cannot do what a qualified engineer can do, also internship is not a job, its a part of your studies. You dont get paid for attending the course of Business Analysis 101, right? Then why would you expect to get paid for an internship.
What about work placements that you do in a gap year? You have to apply, go through interviews to secure a position. Whatever your level of qualification you are still doing work for the organisation and increasing their productivity, why should that be free? You don't get paid for attending Business 101 because you're paying to attend that course.
Re: Slave labour?
It is slave labor! I intern fifteen hours a week and get nothing!!
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it is a free market out there for internships.. if the position was important enough and needed skilled labor, it'd be paid. if there are people willing to work for free to get job experience/contacts/whatever, tough..
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Most internships are falsely represented too, they describe an exciting, learning role and you end up spending the whole day on the copier. You deserve compensation for that.
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This thread is........zakhmo pe namak :D
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Well salt is good for some wounds it dries out the skin and stops some infections too....
Re: Slave labour?
Interesting replies. When students are attending university as usual, almost all of them work part time to afford their expenses. Not many get pocket money off their parents for booze or whatever. But when they’re on placements, they’re working full time and not getting paid yet they’re supposed to pay for rent, bills, food, transport etc. Very tough unless you have a load of savings (which I doubt since students don’t get to save much at all) or if they work a separate job on the weekends (which one of my friends did when she got a placement in Oxford, UK… she was working 7 days a week for 6 months!) or if their parents pay for the 6 or 9 months, which isn’t fair since they’ve already paid a good amount for fees etc and that isn’t cheap any more.
I’m not saying interns must be paid, just saying it’s tough.
Worldwide in terms of the recession. Companies around the globe are cutting back wages for students. The Irish government is now planning on abolishing wages for student nurses. Two of my classmates got a placement in Holland and they had to pay for every single thing themselves. The company didn’t even help them relocate. Another one went to the US and again, she had to pay for everything. We were quite a disappointed lot in 3rd year and even more disappointed when we finally graduated. 
Re: Slave labour?
Curiosity, what is 'placement'? And when these people are interning are they not going to school full time meanwhile?
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personally i would accept an unpaid internship only if it was at a very prestigious company or to work with prestigious people.
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We were quite a disappointed lot in 3rd year and even more disappointed when we finally graduated.
Tell me about it...I graduated at the height of recession.
Curiosity, what is 'placement'? And when these people are interning are they not going to school full time meanwhile?
In the UK you have sandwich degrees where one year of degree is spent working for a company, gaining experience. In a four year course you spend your third year at a work placement.
Re: Slave labour?
This will be very bad, so many students from third world countries afford their education is western countries through part time jobs while they study. They may spend some of it on chicks/parties but that must be banned for them rather than part time jobs.