There is an increasingly unsettling phenomenon unfolding here in the United States and abroad: The disguising of SLAVE LABOR via the ambiguous term "internship".
Unpaid internships have been replacing countless numbers of both full-time and part-time paid positions, thus contributing to chronic high unemployment.
Unable to find paid work, feeling like they have no other choice, or because their profession/school requires an internship for advancement in their field, citizens are finding themselves at the mercy of a flawed economic system that is capitalizing on their free LABOR.
This petition calls on lawmakers to create legislation that would federally require employers and organizations to pay their interns MINIMUM WAGE or more (regardless of their potential status as a "trainee").