Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union’s (TCDSU) council tonight voted to support the prohibition of unpaid internships in College and nationally.
The TCDSU education officer and faculty convenors are now mandated to lobby “for the introduction of a college policy, requiring all credit-bearing internships to have financial [remuneration], with appropriate exemptions where professional accreditation is involved”.
STEM Convenor Daniel O’Reilly proposed the motion, and Matthew Henry, the SCSS convenor, seconded the motion.
Speaking in favour of the motion, O’Reilly described it as a “simple motion”, saying that some students can go on optional credit-bearing modules where they go on an internship. Where the internships are optional, students, he said, are “kind of being socially forced” into unpaid internships because of the benefit they provide.
“That is putting students in financial disadvantage”, he said, adding that if this practise is stopped “students won’t be forced into taking unpaid work for credit”.
O’Reilly used Canada as an example of a country that prohibits unpaid internships. Interns working in Canada are entitled to at least the minimum wage, and internships there have no minimum or maximum duration.
Speaking in favour of the motion, School of Computer Science and Statistics Convenor Matthew Henry said: “It doesn’t matter what course you are doing, unpaid internships – although they are beneficial – do leave people in really awkward financial positions, and because of the benefits that are left on them, it feels like you are forced into it… otherwise you miss out on something major experience-wise.”
In the text of the motion, council stated that “due to the large non-monetary benefit to these internships, students can feel forced to take unpaid internships for credit”.
It also stated that “industry work placement often involve full-time hours, leaving little to no time for part-time work”, which leaves students in “precarious financial situations where they are in effect working two jobs by these unpaid internships, if they are able to maintain their second job at all”.
There is currently no legal definition of internships in Ireland. However, those who sign a contract to work as an intern are still entitled to basic employment rights.
These include the right to data protection, safety, adequate breaks and holidays and the right to join a union, as well as rights against discrimination.
