Tony Blair has agreed to pay interns working in his office, following pressure from careers website Graduate Fog. The former prime minister also faced the threat of a possible investigation by HMRC which enforces the minimum wage.
The news comes only a week after it was revealed that Mr Blair was using unpaid volunteers in his office for three months at a time. Their responsibilities included answering phones, sorting mail and managing meeting rooms.
These are all tasks that have been used as examples of paid work in recent employment tribunals and, as such, Blair’s consultancy could be deemed to be in breach of minimum wage legislation.
This is ironic given the fact that the minimum wage was introduced by Blair’s government and is seen as the enduring legacy of his term of office.
One intern said; “Through minimum wage legislation Blair had given people, young people especially, a decent wage. But he’s not even providing it for his own business.
“It’s completely outrageous. I can’t think of anything more two-faced to be honest.”
Graduate Fog says that Blair, whose wealth is estimated at £20 million by the Financial Times, has forgotten what it’s like to struggle to make ends meet every month.
A spokesperson said; “Too many employers have convinced themselves that experience, plus a few quid for a sandwich and the bus fare, is an acceptable form of payment.
“We just never expected one of those employers to be the man who introduced the minimum wage law.”
Blair’s office has now issued a statement saying the majority of the volunteers came at their own request and that a number of these had since become full-time paid employees. It adds that the office has always acted on legal advice regarding the intern programme.
However they appear to have bowed to pressure by confirming they will now pay the national minimum wage to interns working for extended periods.
Graduate Fog’s Tanya de Grunwald says that this is a high profile success in their campaign of naming and shaming employers abusing intern programmes to secure unpaid staff.
She said; “This is a major victory for interns and proves that they have more power than they think they do.”
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