Please sign petition

[scooterscot]

Working for BAE many years ago.. before I got overtime paid I had to work 8 hour beyond my 37. Additional pay was paid from hour 45.

Still pi$$es me off.

Soon discovered a lot of UK private companies do this.

[ladymuck]

There's a lad(17 years old) on LinkedIn at the moment who was furloughed, bored out of his tree so he went to see a local engineering firm and asked if he could work there for free as he wanted to learn and didn't want to spend all his time on his XBox. The MD of the company gave him a trial and has now offered to take over his apprenticeship.

The lad didn't bleat to the press about not being paid, he got on with it.

He also didn't post on LinkedIn, the MD of the company did.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to spend a day seeing if you like a job and the company likes you. Anything longer unpaid is taking the piss imho.

So "No, I won't be signing the petition".

That's not unreasonable. There will always be nuance.

I think that, with all such things, you have to start from a "ban them all!" stance and then through discourse and real life examples for and against, some guidelines can be formed that ought to (yeah, I have my rose-tinteds on today) strike the right balance.

[vetran]

There's a lad(17 years old) on LinkedIn at the moment who was furloughed, bored out of his tree so he went to see a local engineering firm and asked if he could work there for free as he wanted to learn and didn't want to spend all his time on his XBox. The MD of the company gave him a trial and has now offered to take over his apprenticeship.

The lad didn't bleat to the press about not being paid, he got on with it.

He also didn't post on LinkedIn, the MD of the company did.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to spend a day seeing if you like a job and the company likes you. Anything longer unpaid is taking the piss imho.

So "No, I won't be signing the petition".

As always its context. I have in my time done free work for existing and new customers / employers. But then my pay isn't minimum wage. My teenage daughter did a trial for a small coffee shop and I was astounded the owner didn't pay or at least make her lunch. Some people are just tight.

[jayn200]

As in, you don't support a ban on unpaid trials?

Like unpaid internships (something else I disagree with), there are many people who think an unpaid working trial is perfectly reasonable and it would be good to understand the rationale.

What's wrong with an unpaid internship? Sure they get abused and probably need restrictions (no idea what the laws are around them) but as long as they are restricted to students currently attending uni or recent grads and are limited to 3 months then they are a great stepping stone to paid employment.

Obviously there should be no unpaid internships allowed in labour or unskilled jobs.

[SueEllen]

Unpaid trials aren't work experience.

Work experience you are suppose to fecking useless, there as with a work trial you actually have some skills that you are using.

[ladymuck]

What's wrong with an unpaid internship? Sure they get abused and probably need restrictions (no idea what the laws are around them) but as long as they are restricted to students currently attending uni or recent grads and are limited to 3 months then they are a great stepping stone to paid employment.

Obviously there should be no unpaid internships allowed in labour or unskilled jobs.

Unpaid internships prevent skilled people from poor backgrounds from gaining experience and exposure to the hiring industry because they can't afford to do a 40+ hour week for free and keep a roof over their heads.

[vetran]

problem is that with the oncoming redundancies these kinds of abuse will be the tip of the iceberg!

[fullyautomatix]

Signed.

I am outraged that there are businesses exploiting workers in the name of trial work.

[SueEllen]

What's wrong with an unpaid internship? Sure they get abused and probably need restrictions (no idea what the laws are around them) but as long as they are restricted to students currently attending uni or recent grads and are limited to 3 months then they are a great stepping stone to paid employment.

Obviously there should be no unpaid internships allowed in labour or unskilled jobs.

Loads.

For a start if you are a young person who don't have parents who can support you you can't do an internship. At least paying them the minimum wage gives anyone more of a chance to do one.

Also companies don't appreciate what they get for free.

[Zigenare]

That's not unreasonable. There will always be nuance.

I think that, with all such things, you have to start from a "ban them all!" stance and then through discourse and real life examples for and against, some guidelines can be formed that ought to (yeah, I have my rose-tinteds on today) strike the right balance.

I disagree, because I feel this is something that should be left alone to police itself.

Note to self...
Stop being so bloody reasonable!