Mother Jones Reportedly Told Its Interns to Go on Food Stamps Because It Pays So Little

[DonViejo]

ALEXANDER ABAD-SANTOS

There's one thing that underpaid McDonald's workers and underpaid editorial interns at Mother Jones have in common: their employers told them to apply for food stamps. "During our first meeting with HR at Mother Jones, we were advised to sign up for food stamps," an anonymous formerMoJo intern told Vice]. |That intern horror story appears in a bigger story titled, "The Exploited Laborers of the Liberal Media" by Charles Davis. Interns are paid a $1,000 a month stipend, which works out to about $6 an hour in a 40-hour week.

Update 1:54 p.m.: Mother Jones' public affairs director, Elizabeth Gettelman, writes in an email that the company never explicitly encouraged interns or fellows to sign up for food stamps, but that the HR department does explain to its fellows that they qualify for food stamps because they are paid so little. Gettelman emailed The Wire in regards to Vice's reporting:

That's actually not true, we've never advised interns or fellows to sign up for food stamps. It is true that the stipend level qualifies them for food stamps, as do most internships, and our HR director has, in the context of explaining their stipend, said as much, but we've never encouraged anyone to sign up.

Davis's piece raises a mirror onto left-leaning publications like Mother Jones, The Nation (interns make minimum wage), Salon (unpaid), and The New Republic (unpaid) ,and their practices of not-paying or underpaying their interns — the gist here being that these publications promote things like a living wage and drop hammers on corporations like Walmart and McDonald's for not paying their employees enough don't practice what they preach.

full article
http://www.thewire.com/culture/2013/12/mother-jones-told-its-interns-go-food-stamps-because-it-didnt-pay-them-enough/355654/

[antiquie]

1. Greed breeds hypocrisy. ~ nt

[warrant46]

2. Ahhh a little play out of the Walton's Bag of Tricks

[BlueCaliDem]

3. To me, this is apples and oranges.

What are the revenue stats for The Nation, Salon, Mother Jones, etc., and what are the revenue stats for Walmart and McDonalds?

I don't believe small publications like MJ, Salon, The Nation, etc, have the tens of billions of dollars profit that Walmart and McD's make, and unlike the two greedy corporations that draw millions in government grants while having a team of tax attorneys exploit every tax loophole they can find - or think up - these "left-leaning" publications at least offer a public service by offering fact-based news in a sea of Rightwing propaganda - which is the American M$M.

So I repeat ... apples and oranges.

[former9thward]

14. Profit or lack of it does not allow companies to escape labor laws.

Neither does whatever service they are doing. If they are having these interns do ANY work which increases the value of the employer they are violating labor regulations. This would include doing research for articles.

[BlueCaliDem]

16. I'm curious...what are interns paid in Congress?

You know? Where they actually pass laws. You'd be surprised.

This is nothing but a well-funded attempt by billionaires to marginalize the slave-wages their fellow mega-corporations are getting away with paying employees by trying to compare it to internships that are generally not paid other than very little because the reason for internship is hands-on experience most students get credits for.

[former9thward]

17. I don't know what they are paid.

Probably nothing. Congress has exempted itself from labor laws so the answer is moot anyway. My only point is that all companies whether it is Mother Jones or Apple have to follow labor laws for their employees in this country. IF Mother Jones interns are doing actual work and IF they are working 40 hours then the stipend they are getting would violate the minimum wage law.

[tabbycat31]

32. They're paid nothing

And all of those interns on the Hill actually LOSE $$ because of finding housing in DC.

A friend of mine lost 5K one summer interning for a (progressive) congressman.

[Drahthaardogs]

33. Intern = work in exchange for low pay but gleaning knowledge used to get higher paying job,

That is NOT the same as a worker at McDonalds.

Bag of bullshit comparing the two.

[Posteritatis]

35. In practice a whole hell of a lot of internships might as well be that sort of thing

I'm surprised at how many people in this thread clearly haven't been paying attention to the furore over the state of internships in the last few months. The number of the things which are unpaid gofer jobs with little to no educational components in them is a lot higher than some people here seem to assume.

[Drahthaardogs]

37. I read the same articles, but...

I doubt seriously Mother Jones magazine treats interns like some of the horror stories we hear.

[madinmaryland]

24. Are the people taking internships at these publications taking them as a full-time permanent

position as many do at Walmart and McDonalds? I would believe that most if not nearly all of the interns are on a temporary basis for the summer or semester or even a year. When I was in college, internships were highly sought after.

The difference I see between the two, is that in an internship, you are gaining valuable experience in your field of study, where as with Walmart.......

[lunasun]

26. Thank You !!!! Exactly

[Hassin Bin Sober]

27. Correct me if I'm wrong but a $1000 stipend seems generous for an internship.

Aren't they usually unpaid?

[Posteritatis]

36. My last one was, and at that rate. (nt)

[mecherosegarden]

4. During my search for a post doctoral position

I have found many places that pay so little that I would have to live in my car if I accept one of those positions. Marin County , for example, pays $600 a month for stypend. San Mateo Hospital :$5000 a year for a bilingual Post Doctoral fellow. Many, many places like that. Getting very worried as I can't find anything.

[merrily]

6. I am sorry. I hope something turns up soon.

As my post below says, typically an internship is a glamorous type job. Sounds like these the places you've checked out are just slapping an internship label on a job.

[CTyankee]

18. In the past, this kind of arrangment might have made sense for the young post doc...it was a

stepping stone to a higher paying job later down the line. But now, there are just more people than there are jobs for them and that is a sad waste of talent. With fewer jobs at the top, it looks almost futile...

[merrily]

5. Comparing an internship with a job is apples and oranges, or false equivalency or whatever

cliche is in this year.

I'm surprised they pay even a stipend. I always thought an internship was an unpaid position.

An internship is considered desirable in and of itself to the employee, as when people intern for TV shows.

Checking out customers at WalMart is not exactly as glamorous as interning with the writers of the Dave Letterman show, or the Colbert Report, for example.

[TBF]

20. Varies widely -

at the undergrad level it may often be unpaid, but law students and business students make enormous summer salaries when they "try out" firms during their summers. They'll work 10-12 weeks at over $2000/week etc.

[merrily]

29. Law firms are very different, though.

I believe they are called "summer associates" or just "associates" and not "interns."

"Associates is what they call their hires that are intended to be permanent, unless and until they pass from associate to partner.

Whatever they are called, the firm that hires them for the summer hopes to hire them full time after graduation, so whatever they get paid is still cheaper than paying a headhunter a year's salary. Anyway, that has been the tradition in that profession for a long time.

Who knows, as all jobs get scarcer, the firms may get together (albeit perhaps in violation of law) and start paying them less. It would have to be concerted action because the firms want to stay competitive as far as hiring their first choices.

Also, as my prior post said, there is not the glamor in working for a law firm, as there is in interning for someone in show business. Of course, as jobs get scarcer, having any kind of job at all may be considered a privilege. Therefore employers will be able to call a lot of jobs "internships" and pay crap. And that seems to be happening.

[OnyxCollie]

7. Usually internships are unpaid.

The internships I had were unpaid. I'd be happy with $1,000 a month.

It's an assumption on the writer's part that these interns are working a full 40-hour week.

[unblock]

8. the feds are cracking down on this these days.

[merrily]

30. They should, because it seems employers are abusing the term "internship."

[Posteritatis]

34. It's a perfectly reasonable assumption given the state of contemporary internships

Twice that - for an unpaid one, mind - isn't entirely unusual in some fields.

The ones I had were paid, and the last one was full-time on top of that.

[TeamPooka]

9. Interns work while also going to school so comparing their situation to those

working full time to support a family is comparing apples and oranges.

[Lucky Luciano]

10. Internships should always pay at least min wage.

I was lucky with mine due to the industry and my background. It was $52/hr with $78/hr for overtime. I was allowed to work as many hours as I could. At that rate, fresh out of my PhD, you better believe I banged out 75 hour weeks. I don't have the stamina for 100 hour weeks, but I would have done it if I had the strength!

[Blue_Tires]

22. But like you said, it is dependent on industry and background

But in media? You're lucky if your internship covers the Starbucks budget....

[proverbialwisdom]

11. And when they sign up for insurance under the ACA, they are eligible only for Medicaid or equivalent

...unless they are able to participate outside of the federal exchange. Under all circumstances, if income is below the poverty level (~$16K), no subsidies are available. Correct me if any of this is factually wrong.

Related: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303936904579175611438302596

[Arkana]

12. Yeah, that's kinda not right.

If this is true, they oughta be ashamed.

[CorrectOfCenter]

13. Internships are not meant to provide a living wage.

This is an obvious smear attempt.

[BlueCaliDem]

15. That's what I'm thinking.

they want us to pardon the egregious pay at mega-corporations like Walmart and McD where people actually work to feed their families and pay bills, to interning with small publications like Mother Jones and The Nation.

That said, how much are congressional interns paid? I believe it's ZERO.

[Blue_Tires]

23. +1...just a bullshit false equivalency smear....

And I love how that blogger saw fit to call out ONLY the liberal outlets when what they offer is about the standard industry-wide...

[TBF]

19. The argument to that is that retail was long

thought of as a part-time position. It has only become the primary wages for feeding families because the manufacturing jobs have left the country.

[Blue_Tires]

21. Did someone actually try to SUPPORT themselves on an internship?

Who the hell is THAT fucking ignorant??

[JaneyVee]

25. Internships usually occur while one is in college studying the profession.

Mine was.

[freshwest]

28. It's the 40-hour week @ $6 an hour that gets me. Whoa.

[erpowers]

31. Not the Same

What Mothers Jones and other left leaning publications said to their interns is completely different from what McDonalds and Wal-Mart did and continue to do to their employees. Left leaning publications are not billion dollar industries. I think it was in 2012 when Wal-Mart had a profit of almost $16 billion. The article talked about the interns that worked at Mother Jones. People on the left are talking about the employees of companies like McDonalds and Wal-Mart. Until someone can come up with proof that left leaning publications do not pay their employees a living wage there is nothing to the article. There is a big difference between an intern, who most likely during a summer break, or during a school semester performs an internship and a permanent employee.