#devilpaysnada

[arts-su]

The Devil Pays Nada - End of year 1!

Today The Devil pays Nada delivered a workshop as part of ArtSmart 2013 on unpaid internships and unfair practice in the arts. It was great to talk to students once again about the topic and cover important information about working rights!

Over the year we've made some great progress on the issue, getting support from influential people within the university, including Heads of Colleges who are prominent figures within the industry, as well as committment from SEE to ban the advertisement of unpaid internships and unfair work opportunities. It's great the the university is taking steps to recognise their role in influencing the industry and backing students.

We had over 2000 of you sign up to the campaign, telling us that this is a key problem for you as a UAL student, which led us to prioritise this as a key area for the SU to work on.

Unpaid internships are unfair and exploitative and here are some key things to remember about them:

 - The law states that interns in the UK are, in most cases, entitled to the National Minimum Wage and fall under the category of a 'worker'

- If you are contributing set tasks to a company which they benefit from in any way, or are given set hours to work in, you are essentially a 'worker' and entitled to a wage!

- Calling an opportunity 'volunteering' etc does not overrule the above, you would still be classed as a worker in the eyes of the law!

- Interns have been claiming back wages that they are owed even after completing an internship, where the employer has been fined by HMRC after being found to have breached Minimum Wage laws.

- Check out Carrot Workers, InternAware and the SUARTS campaign page for more info about the issue and get in touch with us about any questions!

We hope to lead more talks about the issue for UAL students over the coming year, so look out for the campaign. It's been an exciting year and hopefully we will see more fair opportunities for students in the near future!

Fairooz

The Devil Pays Nada

[arts-su]

Unpaid internships are revolting, and so are interns...

About a year ago I started planning for the Devil pays Nada campaign against unpaid internships. I had no idea what I was going to do or how I was going to do it, and it seemed an impossible feat. With 130,000 unpaid interns in the UK, and almost all employers in the creative sector buying into this institutional exploitation for their own gain, it seemed like Goliath that couldn't be touched. Interns were frightened to speak up and demand pay and fair treatment, and why wouldn't they be, when it’s been drilled into us all that we must expect to work for free to get a look in.

When employers, friends, careers services, even our own tutors have hammered into us the message that, if you want to work in this elitist industry, you will be obediently making teas and coffees for free at the mercy of employers. Being The One to stand up and say no seemed like one terrifying prospect. Seemed. I use the past tense because we’ve come a long way since then.

However Fox Searchlight faced a shock when they were found to be in violation of minimum wage laws after using interns for free labour which should have been paid.

This is huge news as it has raised serious questions about unpaid intern culture, and means that many more employers could find themselves in the same boat if they do not pay their interns.

Two brave interns took the courage to stand up for their rights as workers. And despite the threat of losing their credentials in the industry and being blacklisted, they continued to pursue the case in order to send out a strong and clear message to employers: We will not be exploited anymore.

This message has sent shockwaves through the film industry and beyond, and resonated in media worldwide. For far too long interns have existed in the backgrounds, silently forming the foundations of many companies and generating profit for the people at the top, but this tide is turning.

With great work being done by intern rights campaigners across the globe, from the USA to the United Nations, I feel confident that we will see a large shift in the way interns are used. But the thing that gives me the most hope is to see interns themselves fighting back and taking back their power, because without this, nothing can change.

If you are an intern and you are reading this, I hope you will think about your experiences as an intern. If you were lucky enough to be able to do an unpaid internship – because a large number of people can’t even afford to take one on in the first place for financial reasons – then think about the part that you play in this culture of free labour. Think about the implication on your peers when you agree to work for free and decide not to speak up.

I hope that you begin to realise your power, both collectively and individually, and bring more employers to their knees if they choose to exploit our generation.

Fairooz

The Devil pays Nada

[arts-su]

Have you seen our Pay Your Interns bags are now on sale? Hurry - very limited stock!

[arts-su]

Our recent visit to London Fashion Week and a look at New York Fashion Week too...

Intern Campaigning Groups Target Fashion Week 2013

According to Chloe Wyma at Blouin artinfo.com, “The most common criticism of Occupy Wall Street is that it lacked a coherent ideological program and tangible objectives. But the goals of Action Against Unpaid Internships are straightforward. Coupling high-level litigation with grass-roots advocacy, they aim to end the epidemic of unpaid internships once and for all.” (Intern Labor Rights is a subgroup of the Arts & Labor, a working group that formed during Occupy Wall Street.)

In London, the “Devil Pays Nada” campaign orchestrated by SUARTS, working alongside Intern Aware created hundreds of “Pay Your Intern” tote bags that they filled with a variety of materials advocating for fair, paid internships and information for interns on their working rights and the National Minimum Wage legislation. The bags were distributed at Somerset House in Aldwych, London, to guests of the events. “We underestimated the popularity of the totes,” says organizer Fairooz Aniqa, “We ran out incredibly fast, and the bags were extremely popular not just with the interns working (for free) at the event, but also with people who owned their own businesses and worked in senior positions in various fashion houses. We have built up a great momentum and this is now a topic on everybodys lips, and it is essential that we keep pressuring employers to reconsider their use of unpaid interns.” “The campaign has collated information from students and fashion websites to gain evidence of free work schemes at leading design houses,” wrote Vanessa Thorpe in the Guardian’s Observer webpage. “One design student told Intern Aware of an unpaid placement with a famous label, partly based in London, where the interns slept under the workshop table.”

In the midst of these outreach actions in New York and London, former unpaid intern Dajia Davenport filed suit for back wages from a major fashion world player, Elite Model Management, a modeling agency that has represented figures such as Cindy Crawford and Gisele Bundchen. The potential class action suit was filed in a Manhattan federal court on February 15, 2013 and if successful could reach $50 million in damages. Declaring the Fashion Week actions a clear success in the campaign for fair, paid internships, Intern Labor Rights, SUARTS and Intern Aware will be working together to coordinate future campaigns in culture-producing industries.

Have a look at some press coverage here:

“Occupy Movement To Protest Unpaid Internships At Fashion Week” Buzzfeed.com, Amy Odell, January 31, 2013 “Occupy Wall Street Takes on Unpaid Internships, Will Protest at NYFW” Fashionista.com, Dhani Mau, February 1, 2013 “‘The Devil Pays Nada’: Occupy Wall Street Protests Intern Abuse in Fashion” Blouin artinfo.com, Chloe Wyma, February 7, 2013 “Occupy Wall Street Protesters Giving Out ‘Free Samples’ At Fashion Week” Fashionista.com, Tyler McCall, February 8, 2013 “#devilpaysnada : les stagiaires piratent la Fashion Week” L’Express, Le Boulevardiers, lilzeon, February 8, 2013 “#devilspaynada : interns vs fashion ancient elites” hit-bag.com, February 8, 2013 “London fashion week demonstration will highlight plight of industry's unpaid interns” The Guardian (The Observer), Vanessa Thorpe, February 9, 2013 “Swag bag message to NY Fashion Week attendees: ‘Pay Your Interns’” Minding the Workplace, David Yamada, February 13, 2013 “Unpaid Internships Are a Rich-Girl Problem—and Also a Real Problem” The Atlantic, Phoebe Maltz Bovy, February 13, 2013 http://www.nrc.nl/carriere/2013/02/20/vandaag-in-het-katern-carriere-the-devil-pays-nada/ NRC Next magazine, Netherlands, Alex van der Hulst, February 20, 2013

[suartsculturediversity-blog]

"There were the possibilities of exemption for conscientious objectors and those in essential services, such as the merchant navy, farming and coal mining; but, the long and the short of it was compulsory service. Not so for interns, I hear you say, yet the notion of compulsion exists here in more muted forms. In the fields of law, politics, media, fashion and even international aid and development, ‘prior experience’ is a prerequisite. I was even asked in an interview for a political internship what my previous experience had been—naturally, of course, one is expected to have experience prior to seeking experience."

[arts-su]

Interns take stand against exploitative internships and claim back wages

Today the Guardian reported this story about interns who claimed back the minimum wage for the work they had done for companies as unpaid interns.

The response from IPC publishing (NOW magazine) was that they hadn't realised that she was doing tasks that warrant a wage. Convenient.

Quoted in the article, they said:

'it appears that she progressed to carrying out tasks for which she was entitled to be paid.

"Once this was brought to our attention, the payment was made through IPC's payroll."

How difficult it must be for them at NOW, if i had someone packing and unpacking boxes and maintaining my stockroom I too would find it impossible to pinpoint that they are in fact, doing work for me.

Disgusting.

Well done to the CSM graduate who stood up and fought back, and asked for the wages and recognition that her talents deserve. Clearly more companies need help from interns on recognising the line between a learning experience and free labour.

If you've done an unpaid internship and would like to speak to us please email [email protected]

#devilpaysnada

[arts-su]

Placements on your course

Have you completed a placement as part of your course at UAL? This can be anything from a sandwich year to a term to a few weeks. If it was a part of your curriculum, we want to know about your experiences.

Click HERE to tell us more about your placement, with the following points in mind:

What was the placement like?

What kind of duties did you carry out?

Was there any financial implication on you (did you have to take time out of a part time job/borrow money etc to fund this time? did they pay expenses?)

How did your tutor support you throughout the placement? (did they email/phone you to check how it was going? how often?)

How did your tutor follow up afterwards about what you learnt/did? Did you produce a report/do a presentation? were you graded on this? follow up tutorials?

Submit your story either anonymously or logged in, either way all posts will be private and only considered so that we can see what your experiences have been!

=)