A fascinating post on the Interns Anonymous website. This brilliant organisation is devoted to exposing the pernicious growth in the use of free labour. It shares many of the aims of my new outfit, New Deal of the Mind.
Philip Hammond, the well-respected shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury has been tipped to leapfrog George Osborne into No 11 Downing Street.
According to the IA website, Hammond recently advertised for an intern post for which the terms were less than generous. When challenged by a member of the public about his failure to pay the national minimum wage he emailed back:
“I would regard it as an abuse of taxpayer funding to pay for something that is available for nothing and which other members are obtaining for nothing. I therefore have no intention of changing my present arrrangements.”
So far only Private Eye has picked up on this story.
I must say I find it staggering that a senior Tory figure is prepared to use free labour in this way.
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