Why Can't Wind Mobile Pay Their Interns?

Just a short post today. Canadian telecommunications companies are among the worst offenders when it comes to exploiting young workers in Canada. Misclassification of employees as interns and wage theft seem to be quite common in the industry. Previously, I've detailed the human resources practices of Bell Mobility in their Professional Management Program, but what's occurring at Bell Mobility happens with alarming regularity at the other telecommunication companies as well (see this article about Rogers).

Today the Canadian Intern Association posted an article detailing how Wind Mobile is hiring a score of unpaid interns and failing to pay them the prevailing minimum wage (which is $10.25 in Ontario). This is massive company with access to huge amounts of money, so it's disgusting that they would choose to engage in this highly questionable (and arguably illegal) practice. Examples like this point to the need for proactive enforcement of minimum employment standards within the Federally-regulated sectors - an area that has been totally neglected by Stephen Harper and Lisa Raitt. 

Under the Canada Labour Code unpaid internships are prohibited when the intern is performing work. Under "Hours of Work - 802-1-IPG-002", a policy directive published by Federal Department of Labour, it states that training scheme of longer durations where a person is performing aspects of a job a de-facto employment relationship develops and the person must be compensated for the hours that they work. Legalities aside, posting multiple unpaid internships like this reeks of exploitation by a corporate giant that could easily pay the minimum wage.