Abolish the JobBridge internship scheme, along with other exploitative unpaid internship schemes, such as JobPath.
Why is this important?
Over 16,000 businesses and organisations have used JobBridge interns since the scheme began 5 years ago. These include: the HSE (399 interns), the GAA (249 interns), Teagasc (184 interns), UCD (also 184), Hewlett-Packard (176) and a number of county councils.
All this points towards an endemic level of exploitation which has permeated every sector of employment and even includes unionised workplaces.
All employers and the State must commit to a minimum, and really, a living wage of €11.50 an hour, instead of exploiting the unpaid labour of JobBridge interns.