Interns Get Fired En Masse After Protesting Dress Code at Work

[PosPosPos]

I didnt have to meet any productivity standard as an intern. I was still paid $20 an hour USD. Lower then real employee, nobody has a right to intership lol, what kind of shit is that. Even when intership are part of a class they can all turn you down with no justifications.

Well, I am aware and already indirectly acknowledged that internships can work differently in different places.

I had productivity quotas as an intern, but then again I was paid exactly the same as a full time employee(after negotiation).

[PosPosPos]

Regardless, changing company policy as an intern isn't a right. If they feel the group of people won't be as productive because they don't like the way they have to dress then I guess they lose that right, right?

I didn't say it was, don't strawman my post, please. I clearly mentioned in my earlier posts in the thread that I fully agree with firing the interns who were wasting time on useless SJW crap like this instead of what they were expected to do - work and gain experience.

[Dextroden]

Slave labour is dubbed as privilege now? Well, that's something new.

Intern work is far from glorious. But calling it slave Labour is....amazingly dense.

[Crissi]

To be clear, internship abuse does happen. This just isn't it.

My sis quit hers after 3 days because she signed up to be an art gallery intern and learn how to take care of, and talk about, art. They instead put her to use as a secretary since they didn't want to hire a secretary for pay. THAT is bull.

[PosPosPos]

Intern work is far from glorious. But calling it slave Labour is....amazingly dense.

If you are not paid at all, or for peanuts, then yes it is slave labour. Just like not paying a livable wage.

[NoiseTank13]

Wait, what?

I think you're confusing the initial anecdote from the OP as part of the story. Or am I confused on that?

Yeah it wasn't really clear to me. Thought the space was just formatting from copy+paste.

[RickJamesLich]

I'm mixed on this one, I do think the interns were idiots by making a whole document with pro's and con's just because they saw one person wearing regular shoes lol. That type of shit probably is not good to have. That being said, I wouldn't have had a problem with just giving them a warning. I guess it's up to the company but that is still pretty harsh. A lot of kids nowadays have no idea how the working world really is and suddenly it becomes like a culture shock for them, something as simple as having a dress code is a huge deal to them I guess.

[Dextroden]

If you are not paid at all, or for peanuts, then yes it is slave labour. Just like not paying a livable wage.

Oh....geez...

[PosPosPos]

They didn't know that the other employee was an amputee at the time they presented the issue, though.

This amputee must have some of the best artificial legs plus natural talent in walking in one, because most amputees walk with a visible limp.

[alexw]

Good, give the entitled brats a dose of reality.

Its quite hilarious that the most entitled generation in history is complaining about how entitled the young are.

Not that I think the Interns were in the right here. It was the wrong way to bring it up. But its naivety not entitlement.

[PosPosPos]

Oh....geez...

Sorry that you don't understand what the definition of slavery is.

[NoiseTank13]

Sorry that you don't understand what the definition of slavery is.

It's not slavery in the truest sense of the word, it is entirely optional and most people want to do internship even in unpaid positions to give them an advantage in their field of choice. The incentives are there.

Obviously there's abuse abounds to be had, but calling it slavery... I wouldn't.

[rosebull]

The link doesn't work. Who was the company doing the firing?


Also, I see fault on both sides. The employer should have just told them the code isn't changing and they are a small unimportant part of the machine, firing is just a bit dickish.

Its the fact this all happened so early on. Extreme red flag,. better to find new interns than risk future headaches.

[PosPosPos]

It's not slavery in the truest sense of the word, it is entirely optional and most people want to do internship even in unpaid positions to give them an advantage in their field of choice. The incentives are there.

Obviously there's abuse abounds to be had, but calling it slavery... I wouldn't.

Uh, it certainly is. If you have to rely on the money to subsist, and without it you and family starve to death, then it's a unilateral relationship one party cannot back out of. It's exactly like slavery.

[Ragedaug]

Indeed, if a business is going to act that way the moment you open your mouth about something, then you probably don't want to be there at all. Chances are that such action also means that they place absolutely no value on you and see you as "a dime a dozen" and you were never going anywhere there in the first place.

The business didn't do that the moment they opened their mouths. I work with people like these kids. The spend a good percent of their energy complaining about making things different instead of just doing their job. This was after the culmination of a lot of complaining.

"I don't understand why i can't watch internet videos at work, it doesn't distract me"
"This is my daily reminder to you that my chair is uncomfortable, I need a new chair - even though it the same chair another hundred folks sit in without complaint"
"That's not the hour I want to take my lunch break"
"I have a bunch of reasons why my productivity is lower than anyone else here, and none of these distractions or me spending so much energy on complaining are the reasons"

So in the OP story, you have a whining intern who has brought up the topic of wearing gym shoes or less on several occasions, who finally got almost all of the other interns to sign a petition (instead of just working/learning), and a boss that was probably already having a bad day and got fed up when he saw the petition after stating several times previously, "no".

[kail]

Who the fuck cares about interns?

InternLivesMatter

[Orange Joe]

If you are not paid at all, or for peanuts, then yes it is slave labour. Just like not paying a livable wage.

Slave Labor:

labor that is coerced and inadequately rewarded, or the people who perform such labor.

They are not coerced. They choose to take that position.

[PosPosPos]

Well, the limp could be a for a lot of reasons. But yeah, I'm sure there had to be SOME sign, but it may not have been obvious what the sign suggested.

Hell, I walk with a limp some days because of issues with my back.

Usually, when I see colleagues wearing slippers or otherwise violating dress code, they show some sign like crutches, limps or even affected gait. Amputees are in another world altogether, I have never seen one walk perfectly with a normal poise and balance.

[Orange Joe]

Sorry that you don't understand what the definition of slavery is.

You don't seem to either.

[PosPosPos]

Slave Labor:



They are not coerced. They choose to take that position.

Yes, if they don't choose to do so, they don't have the money to survive. That is essentially coerced.

Whether they are held at literal gunpoint to work, or have their lives held at ransom, it's slave labor in both cases.

The only difference is whether the blackmail is less material in nature or not.