
Internships Are Not a Privilege - ALee
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/opinion/breaking-a-cycle-that-allows-privilege-to-go-to-privileged.html
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slededit
The author means well be its clear he's part of a business culture that has
ignored minimum wage laws for so long he no longer believes they even apply to
internships. You can see this very clearly in his phrase: "While some
nonprofits may be unable to pay their interns — even though they depend on
their contributions of energy and know-ho". If an organization "depends on
their contributions" then the intern must be paid at least minimum wage, there
is no intern exception unless it is literally work that is useless to the
organization - akin to a school project.

While enforcing these laws won't improve access, it will make it possible for
the less affluent to be able to take these internships. Better enforcement is
something the department of labor could do now, it has the law and the
authority to do so already.

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bpodgursky
> While some nonprofits may be unable to pay their interns ...

> then the intern must be paid at least minimum wage, there is no intern
> exception unless it is literally work that is useless to the organization

What's the difference between an unpaid intern and a volunteer at a nonprofit?

Should nobody be allowed to volunteer skills at the Red Cross, or the Sierra
Club, unless it is "useless to the organization" (which makes no sense, since
you are... volunteering).

If you start enforcing this strictly, you're basically ruling that a whole
class of NGOs does not have a right to exist powered by interest and volunteer
labor.

~~~
pitaa
> What's the difference between an unpaid intern and a volunteer at a
> nonprofit?

Broadly speaking, I see it like this: Your intern brings you coffee, whereas
you bring your volunteers coffee.

An intern may start out doing low-skill, labor-intensive, and/or menial tasks
with the expectation that they begin to learn the industry, gain skills and
responsibilities, and possibly be offered a full time position.

A volunteer may also be doing low-skill, labor-intensive, and/or menial tasks,
but without the explicit expectation of personal growth or career advancement.
The volunteer is there because they want to help advance the cause of the
organization (or because the judge let them off with community service...).

Of course in reality I have no doubt that there are situations that blur these
lines.

