Toon:Raising Minimum Wage

[n2doc]

We call that last category "Unpaid Interns"

[reformist2]

1. Seriously, that intern thing ought to be illegal.

[BlueStreak]

3. Some interns are paid

... which seems like a contradiction in terms. But some businesses pay a regular wage, or at least minimum wage to interns. The designation of "intern" is made so that it ti s clear that they are not expected to remain with the company and that this is essentially an educational phase. No problem with those cases.

But there are also the businesses that are exploiting the 8% unemployment situation and forcing people to work for free for a period if they want to "get a foot in the door" towards eventual employment at the firm. I definitely agree this should be illegal. Minimum wage should be a living wage and every worker should get at least minimum wage.

[reformist2]

6. I meant the unpaid ones. Most poor and middle-class people have no ability to 'volunteer' that long.

And even if these internships come with a nominal salary, we all know it's become a way for private companies to "test" potential employees for real jobs. It smacks of indentured servitude, and it's wrong.

[11 Bravo]

2. Rall sometimes pisses me off, but he always makes me think.

[BlueStreak]

4. Isn't it ironic that it would have been Democrats saying these things in 1863?

[Coyotl]

5. There really is a glimmer of hope for the republicans today

Given another century, they may get it right

[Gorp]

7. Sometimes Rall pegs it in a way nobody else can.