※ [本文转录自 Gossiping 看板 #1Hmd_9mK ]
作者: m760112 (废文权威) 看板: Gossiping
标题: [新闻] 是学习还是血汗： 不甘领低薪学生劳工告
时间: Thu Jun 20 12:06:29 2013
是学习还是血汗： 不甘领低薪学生劳工告公司
http://news.sina.com.tw/article/20130619/9944543.html
随经济局势走衰，就业市场前景不佳的环境下，
许多学生宁可不拿薪水，也要争取实习机会，换取职场所需之经验及技能。
不过，美国社会似乎正透过司法行动，酝酿一股反对无偿实习的力量。
要求实习生实际上被当成劳工差遣时，就应该支付法定薪资。
曾在《纽约客》及《W杂志》工作的实习生，13日对母公司康泰纳仕出版公司提出诉讼，法律专家表示，这起诉讼是打头阵，未来可能还会出现一波控诉未支付或仅支付微薄酬劳给学生劳工的诉讼潮。
提出控诉前2天，才有法官做出判决，认定大众探照灯电影公司违反劳动法规。该公司在拍摄2010年由娜塔莉波曼主演的电影《黑天鹅》时，使用了未支薪的实习生。
劳动法律师表示，该一判决结果及类似的诉讼案可能会接踵而来，使得雇主不得不重新思考任用不支薪或低薪实习生的问题。这是第一宗发生在电影及出版这些“光鲜亮丽”产业的案件，任用实习生的作法，在这些产业已行之有年。接着，诉讼可能扩散至其他产业，这些产业也推行类似政策，意图在每况愈下的经济环境下，减少劳力成本支出。
“这股风潮可能会超出媒体业公司、扩及到纽约以外的地区。”圣安东尼奥的轩尼诗布恩法律事务律师、负责处理劳动纠纷的奥唐纳尔表示：“我想全国各行各业的雇主们都要注意了。”
遭遇不公 集结争权
13日的这起诉讼，由纽约南区联邦地区法院负责审理，该法院11日才做出不利新闻集团的大众探照灯电影公司的判决。
2009年在《W杂志》实习数月的巴林杰及2009、2010年在《纽约客》实习的李布表示，康泰纳仕出版公司违反联邦劳动法。
巴林杰每天领12美元酬劳，工作内容是整理配件、替编辑处理私人事务、送货给报摊。李布是领固定工资，每3至4个月的实习期间，领3百至5百美元的酬劳，工作内容有审阅《纽约客》的“呼喊与细语”单元稿件，回复《纽约客》收到的电子信件、校对以及拆信。
这起诉讼试图成为集体诉讼，代表所有受到康泰纳仕出版公司影响的人打官司。该诉讼认为，《公平劳动基准法》要求公司支付最低时薪。
▲一位在纽约市立学院主修沟通设计的大四学生荷西维葛（Jorge Vega）正排队进入纽约贾维茨贸易中心的2012年大苹果征才及实习博览会，图摄于2012年4月27日。这个征才博览会是特别针对不同的纽约市立学校学生们所策划。（图文／路透）
对康泰纳仕出版公司与大众探照灯电影公司提出诉讼的奥顿高登法律事务所，目前正在确认过去6年哪些人曾无偿实习，以及审视雇用条件是否违反了工资工时规定。
实习背后的阶级差异
奥顿高登法律事务所也受理赫斯特集团《时尚芭莎》的前实习生王学丹（音译）所提出的诉讼。在这起案件里，同样也是纽约南区法院的法官贝尔表示，寻求集体诉讼确认的王学丹，无法代表其他实习生提出控诉。法律事务对此提出上诉，而王学丹仍可以个人身分提出告诉。
去年底，奥顿高登法律事务所曾代表190名未支薪的实习生提出集体诉讼，《美国公共电视台》脱口秀主持人罗斯则同意与他们达成和解。这些实习生在2006年3月至2012年10月间，曾替罗斯的节目工作过。
“这些年轻人意识到经济与阶级议题。”奥顿高登法律事务律师特纳在论及康泰纳仕的诉讼案时表示：“他们认为可以来实习的人是有钱人，这些人在获得微薄酬劳或完全没有得到酬劳时，家里可提供资助给他们。”
“他们挺身而出，然后表示：‘我们受够这些了。’”
康泰纳仕公司的代表表示，公司未对这起悬而未决的官司做出评论。
接受无偿 被自己看轻
美国劳工部发展出一套6项检核项目的标准，作为判定营利公司是否必须支付酬劳给实习生的依据。这套检核标准，以最高法院数十年前的一起铁道公司受训人员的案件为基础。这套标准将几项因素纳入考量，包括实习经验的教育价值、实习生能否取代一般正职员工等。
奥唐纳尔表示：“检核的真正关键，在于实习必须是为了实习生的利益，而不是对雇主有利。”
尽管追踪不易，但无偿实习的普遍程度，可见于全美大学及雇主协会所做的年度调查。该调查发现，从事无偿实习的学生人数超过3万。过去3年里，所有接获调查的实习生中，有将近半数的人表示自己没有拿到薪水。
《2013年学生调查》发现，有偿实习增加获取正职工作机会可能性的同时，无偿实习生未来的发展机会，只比完全没实习过的学生好一些。调查指出，刚毕业的研究生当中，参加过支薪实习的学生，起薪中位数是5万1,930美元；但无偿实习的学生，起薪仅3万5,721美元。
全美大学及雇主协会的研究员寇克表示，此一情况对所有科系的学生皆然。
总部位于华盛顿、无特定党派立场的智库“经济政策研究所”的艾森布瑞表示，想要成为实习生的学生，尽管只是要跨出第一步，但在同意无偿工作之前，都应该先三思一番。
“若你愿意无偿工作，你给雇主的信息就是不用付给你这么高的价码。”（路透）
When two former interns（1） at the New Yorker and W Magazine sued parent company Conde Nast Publications on Thursday, legal experts said it could be the first in a wave of lawsuits challenging companies WHO pay little or nothing for student labor.
The lawsuit comes just two days after a judge found that Fox Searchlight Pictures viOLated labor laws when it used unpaid interns for production tasks on "Black Swan," the 2010 film starring Natalie Portman.
Employment lawyers said that decision and similar lawsuits that are likely to follow would force employers to reconsider using unpaid or underpaid（2） interns, first in "glamour" industries such as movies and publishing, where the practice has become standard, and then in industries that have implemented similar policies to reduce labor costs in a flagging economy.
"This trend is probably going to expand beyond media companies and beyond New York," said Laura O'Donnell, a lawyer at Haynes & Boone in San Antonio who represents management in labor disputes. "I think employers in all industries across the country need to take note."
Thursday's lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which also had issued the decision on Tuesday against News Corp's (NWSA.O) Fox Searchlight.
Lauren Ballinger, an intern at W Magazine for several months in 2009, and Matthew Leib, who had internships at the New Yorker in 2009 and 2010, said Conde Nast violated federal labor laws.
Ballinger received $12 a day to organize accessories, run personal errands for editors and make deliveries to vendors. Leib got a flat rate of $300 to $500 for each three- to four-month internship, which included reviewing submissions to the New Yorker's "Shouts and Murmurs" section, responding to emails sent to the magazine, proofreading（3） and opening mail.
The lawsuit, which seeks a class action on behalf of all affected Conde Nast workers, said the Fair Labor Standards Act required the company to pay an hourly minimum wage.
Law firm Outten & Golden, which brought both the Conde Nast and the Fox Searchlight lawsuits, is identifying individuals who held unpaid internships during the past six years and is reviewing the conditions of their employment for possible wage-and-hour violations.
The firm is also handling a lawsuit against Hearst Corp by former Harper's Bazaar magazine intern Xuedan Wang. In that case, Judge Harold Baer, also in the Southern District of New York, said Wang, who had sought class-action（4） certification, could not sue on behalf of other interns. The law firm is Appealing the ruling, and Wang can still bring suit as an individual.
PBS talk show host Charlie Rose agreed to settle a similar class action brought by Outten & Golden late last year on behalf of 190 unpaid interns who worked on his program between March 2006 and October 2012.
"These young people are conscious of economic and class issues," Juno Turner, a lawyer at Outten & Golden, said of the Conde Nast lawsuit. "They see that people who are able to do these internships are people of means, whose families are able to support them while they work for little or no pay.
"They're standing up and saying: 'I've had enough of this.'"
A Conde Nast representative said the company did not comment on pending litigation（5）.
The U.S. Labor Department has developed a six-pronged test based on a decades-old Supreme Court case related to railroad company trainees to determine whether interns at for-profit companies must be paid. It takes into account factors that include the educational value of the experience and whether interns displace regular workers.
"The real key to the test is that the internship has to be for the benefit of the intern as opposed to the employer," O'Donnell said.
Although unpaid internships are difficult to track, their prevalence is APParent in an annual survey of more than 30,000 students conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). For the past three years, nearly half of all interns surveyed have reported working without pay.
The 2013 Student Survey found that while paid internships increased the likelihood of receiving a permanent job offer, unpaid interns fared only slightly better than students who did no internship at all. The median starting salary for a newly minted graduate with paid internship experience is $51,930, but only $35,721 for those who have completed an unpaid internship, the survey said.
That pattern was consistent across all academic majors, NACE researcher Edwin Koc said.
Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, said would-be interns should think twice about agreeing to work without pay, even to get a foot in the door.
"You signal to employers that you aren't worth that much if you're willing to work for nothing," Eisenbrey said.（Reuters）
关键字词
1.intern （n.）实习生
2.underpaid（a.）薪水或工资很低的
3.proofread（v.）校对
4.class-action（n.）集体诉讼
5.litigation（n.）诉讼