Posted on 04/06/2010 8:11:56 PM PDT by JohnRLott
But....but....but...that would mean she doesn't know anything.
I’m not much into slave labor.
We have a summer program for the college students of employees at my Company. After the first year my Son was offered an internship, the pay is higher than most part time jobs and they work his schedule around his classes. This is his fourth year and his tuition will be paid by this Company and a job upon graduation. We have been blessed, the Company will hire a worker that has been trained with knowledge of every aspect of our business and all my Son’s hard work will result in a very well paid position. The internship has given him the money to pay for his tuition and He graduates with no student loans. With Company paid tuition this year is a bonus.
As a Mom, the best part was riding to work with my Son and becoming closer to him.
I'm support the graduate if he *WANTS* to do so... but it should *NEVER* be corporate policy. And if business has reached the point that one cannot even reasonably expect to get a job without it, that *IS* a problem.
For it creates a class of indentured servants, having to work without pay just for the possibility of a job.
And you are being paid in experience on a daily basis. Should your employer not pay you? After all, you are getting good work experience, why should the a company also give you money, too?
(or so the argument goes for unpaid internships)
It suddenly becomes a lot less palatable when it's your livelihood on the line.
What’s a candy striper?
And when has a job, one uses the money earned to pay for one’s needs.
I’m thinking the intern needs money to live. Silly to think his job should provide it. Maybe you want Uncle Sugar Daddy to pony up instead?
Not if there are no alternatives for the prospective employee in a particular career field in order to secure a job. Then there would be implicit coercion to then work without pay.
Yes, and that describes a janitor or a member of the cleaning crew to a tee, yet they are paid. Not a lot, but they get some sort of renumeration.
At my company, interns are paid a modest wage, but the interns (who pretty much have to be top-notch college upperclassmen with a GPA of 3.5 or higher) consider the experience to be invaluable for the skills they learn and the insights into the industry they gain.
And that's the way it should be. They aren't skilled yet, so they don't make much. But they *ARE* earning something for the work performed, limited as it might be.
Exactly!
Voluntary slavery. Much like the ‘forced volunteerism’ of the Soviet Union that Ayn Rand despised.
How is an internship ‘voluntary’ if it the *ONLY* way into a particular career, regardless of company or employer?
Now that you mention it, I’m currently doing a lot of volunteer work in preparation for paid opportunities that may come available partly as a result of my volunteer work. Whether I “should” be paid or not is moot — the people I’m working with don’t have money to pay me right now. I’m co-investing sweat equity with them.
In answer to your question, the market puts a price on work (different prices for different types and qualities of work). If a company doesn’t pay you what you’re worth, you’ll go elsewhere. That’s why companies pay for work.
Because I have skills that produce value to them that is at least what they pay me. Interns often are so lacking in skills and work habits that the net value of their production is zero, or less when you consider the time investment of others that have to supervise them. Why is that so hard for you to grasp? Go ahead and ban unpaid internships. Who exactly would gain from this? Certainly not the intern. The company wouldn't care. They can just cancel the program that will now cost them more than it's worth.
Isn't it a better world when busy bodies, with childish and disgustingly obtuse ideas of economics and what's fair, just mind their own business and let people enter into relationships that suit them?
There's your money quote. Some people, despite providing labor, shouldn't be compensated for it. Well, if that's the case, the company should fire the idjit. But if they *ARE* working well enough for a company to keep them on, then the company finds value in the work they do. Therefore, as their work has value, the intern should be compensated for that value with pay.
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On another note:
Because I have skills that produce value to them that is at least what they pay me.
Eh, compared to some, you're not very skilled at all. So why should the company pay you for graciously granting you the privilege of being able to learn from their more experienced personnel.
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Actually, the argument for your pay is the same argument I just made for the payment of interns. So why would you justify your pay with an argument that you reject?
No. Because internships are public service programs companies offer to the community at large, sometimes in cooperation with nearby schools. They're giving kids some experience, in spite of the fact that the kid has little or nothing to offer them yet. And whether or not you approve, and whether or not Obomabots approve, it's none of your damn business in a free society.
Eh, compared to some, you're not very skilled at all. So why should the company pay you for graciously granting you the privilege of being able to learn from their more experienced personnel.
Sigh. Because the net value of my output is great than zero. Gees. I'm not there to learn from the "more experienced personnel", whoever they are. I'm there to add more value to their output than I'm paid.
I mean this in the kindest possible way: You're breathtakingly obtuse on this topic and should let go before you embarrass yourself further.
Glad to hear of your son’s good fortune. And...it is really a gift for you to able to spend that time with him on the commutes! He was in a good intern program.
A hospital volunteer.
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