Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Obama eyes interns: Democrats move to deny useful job training to young workers
Washington Times ^ | April 7, 2010 | Editorial

Posted on 04/06/2010 8:11:56 PM PDT by JohnRLott

The Obama administration's top law enforcement officer at the Labor Department, M. Patricia Smith, is targeting companies that give young people unpaid internships. She claims that internships are rife with abusive practices and that serious violations of labor law are widespread. Arguing that interns should get paid at least minimum wage, Ms. Smith and the White House risk destroying a valuable steppingstone that gives many young Americans training they need to get jobs they want in the future.

Unpaid internships are valuable for many reasons. Most simply, they help people test whether they are a good fit for a particular industry. If interns like the type of work at particular companies, internships can help them get the training and contacts they need to make their career aspirations a reality. The short time that interns spend at jobs - often just two to three months - makes it difficult for firms to both train these young people and get much work out of them. From manufacturing to nonprofits to media companies such as The Washington Times, hands-on opportunities open through internships are almost endless. . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government
KEYWORDS: april; interns; regulation; washingtontimes
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 161-179 next last
To: kcvl
M. Patricia Smith has spent her entire career in 'public service'.

But....but....but...that would mean she doesn't know anything.

101 posted on 04/07/2010 11:09:51 AM PDT by lonestar (Better Obama picks his nose than our pockets!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: JohnRLott

I’m not much into slave labor.


102 posted on 04/07/2010 11:57:09 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SaraJohnson

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.


103 posted on 04/07/2010 6:01:57 PM PDT by Dianer0839
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: Milton Miteybad
If a newly minted graduate doesn't need a paycheck right away, but wants to gain badly needed experience in lieu thereof, why should he or she be prohibited from reaching such an arrangement with a prospective employer?

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.

104 posted on 04/07/2010 7:46:00 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: AZLiberty

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?


105 posted on 04/07/2010 7:48:21 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Minn
Yes, but every day you learn something new and thus gain new experience at work. Why should the company *PAY* you as well. Learning should be enough for you.

(or so the argument goes for unpaid internships)

It suddenly becomes a lot less palatable when it's your livelihood on the line.

106 posted on 04/07/2010 7:52:46 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: MortMan

What’s a candy striper?


107 posted on 04/07/2010 7:53:57 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: MortMan

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?


108 posted on 04/07/2010 7:56:39 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: MrB
If the worker agrees to work without monetary compensation, that’s their business.

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.

109 posted on 04/07/2010 7:59:36 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: VRWCmember
The type of work that most interns do in companies is menial, necessary work that adds little or no value but is needed in order for operations to flow.

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.

110 posted on 04/07/2010 8:04:20 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: Zeneta
Interns take these positions of their free will.

Exactly!

111 posted on 04/07/2010 8:09:09 PM PDT by murphE ("It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged." - GK Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: CharlesWayneCT

Voluntary slavery. Much like the ‘forced volunteerism’ of the Soviet Union that Ayn Rand despised.


112 posted on 04/07/2010 8:17:47 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 92 | View Replies]

To: VRWCmember

How is an internship ‘voluntary’ if it the *ONLY* way into a particular career, regardless of company or employer?


113 posted on 04/07/2010 8:19:06 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: gogogodzilla

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.


114 posted on 04/07/2010 8:33:51 PM PDT by AZLiberty (Yes, Mr. Lennon, I do want a revolution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: gogogodzilla
Why should the company *PAY* you as well.

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?

115 posted on 04/07/2010 8:40:57 PM PDT by Minn (Here is a realistic picture of the prophet: ----> ([: {()
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 106 | View Replies]

To: Minn
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.

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.

---

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.

---

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?

116 posted on 04/07/2010 8:52:16 PM PDT by gogogodzilla (Live free or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 115 | View Replies]

To: gogogodzilla
Why should the company *PAY* you as well.

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.

117 posted on 04/07/2010 9:10:55 PM PDT by Minn (Here is a realistic picture of the prophet: ----> ([: {()
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]

To: gogogodzilla
I'm support the graduate if he *WANTS* to do so... but it should *NEVER* be corporate policy.

It isn't. Not to any measurable degree, anyway.

And if business has reached the point that one cannot even reasonably expect to get a job without it, that *IS* a problem.

For example, the architecture business has been that way pretty much forever. When they first hire on, new architectural graduates often work for very low pay on a provisional basis until they learn enough to be able to contribute to the bottom line. If that's a problem for you, you'll want to avoid that particular field.

For it creates a class of indentured servants, having to work without pay just for the possibility of a job.

Not really. The employee, who is in no way legally bound to stay at an internship, is always free to seek other opportunities if he so desires. He could only be regarded as "indentured" if he was legally compelled to stay in the low-paying internship for a certain length of time. But, he's not, so it isn't.
118 posted on 04/07/2010 9:20:42 PM PDT by Milton Miteybad (I am Jim Thompson. {Really.})
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: Dianer0839

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.


119 posted on 04/07/2010 10:04:33 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: gogogodzilla

A hospital volunteer.


120 posted on 04/08/2010 4:40:19 AM PDT by MortMan (It's unconstitutional, it's wrong, and it's evil. But that's Obama in a nutshell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 107 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 161-179 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson