Young, Ambitious and Exploited

Friday 01 December 2006

Finding work is a tricky business for under-25s across Europe. In France, the stage - or internship - comes under fire.

Friday 01 December 2006

By Laure de Matos

It was like a slap in the face: at 32, Cathy was about to embark on her ninth internship. Although her CV was packed with qualifications -- art in France, documentary-making in London and a diploma in cultural management -- she couldn’t find a job that fit any of them.

A cultural organisation had offered to take her on for three months, on an unpaid internship – known as a stage in France. Despite the obvious drawbacks, she liked the project. But at the last moment, she got a call from her future boss: “I’ve just found a highly competent young man,” he explained. “He’s just joined us from the private sector for a stage and he’s going to teach us a heap of things. You’ll replace him at the end of December.”

Cathy was flabbergasted: “I realised this poor guy had left his job, was giving them his know-how for free, and that whatever he did he didn’t have the slightest chance of getting a long-term job out if it.”

Disgusted, Cathy went onto the Internet where she discovered numerous accounts from exploited stagiaires (interns). “I found I wasn’t the only one sick of the system,” she remmbers. “My own experiences were not personal failures -- a lot of people were in the same boat.”

Early the next day she issued a nationwide call for a strike via student forums and mainstream French media sites. The message got through. Other discouraged stagiaires joined her and came to meetings at her house. Génération Précaire (GP) was born.

Interns Unite

That was in 2005. The founders of Génération Précaire were the first to highlight abuse of the stage system in France. Before their campaign there were no laws regulating internships and little or no media coverage of the issue.

The group staged some small demonstrations in October 2005, hiding their faces behind distinctive white masks. The masks served two purposes: to protect their anonymity and avoid putting off future employers, but also to symbolise their belief that stagiaires didn’t count in the world of business.

The masks struck a chord; and on Nov. 24, 2005, Génération Précaire had its first big event, with 500 supporters taking to the streets of Paris. The media picked up their message and several young journalists -- themselves in insecure employment -- joined the movement.

Cheap Labour, and Qualified Too

The Economic and Social Council, a government advisory body, estimates that 800,000 stages take place each year in France.

Critics say a lack of regulation has led to two kinds of abuse. First is the “photocopier” or “coffee-machine” stage, where the intern does little more than run errands. Second is the “hidden employee” stage, where the young stagiaire takes on the work of a normal worker but doesn’t get paid.

Last year, 23 year-old history graduate Céline signed up for a six-month stage in a telecommunications company. Having just completed a Masters in IT, she was keen to exercise her skills. So she agreed to work two days a week as a Web developer for 150 euros a month – little more than two euros per hour.

“Our working conditions were awful -- one computer between two out in the corridor,” she told FRANCE 24. “Worse still, nobody was teaching us a thing. The boss only knew about management and was hopeless when it came to IT. Yet I was supposed to be there to learn.”

Céline and her colleagues put together the Web site of one of France’s most important telephone companies: “At a meeting we showed our project to a client. My boss introduced us as his Web designers and Web developers. The client didn’t have a clue we were all stagiaires.” According to Céline, the company had five stagiaires for every three paid employees.

(Like Cathy and all the other current and former stagiaires interviewed for this article, Céline asked that FRANCE 24 not use her last name to protect her from any adverse reaction by potential employers.)

Measuring the number of “hidden employees” remains difficult. Jean-Marie Chevalier, a professor of economics at Paris’s Université Dauphine who has studied the issue, believes there are 60,000 jobs at any given time that French companies fill with unpaid stagiaires rather than salaried employees. It’s a particularly shocking figure in France, where the unemployment rate for young people is among the highest in Europe. More than 20% of people aged under 25 are without work.

Advanced Degrees No Help

Even getting an advanced degree is no guarantee of paid employment. After getting a Masters in law, it took Vincent two years to find a job. “In the legal profession all jobs require four or five years’ experience. So when you’ve just graduated, a stage is the only solution; It’s inevitable.”

Unable to find employment after his studies, Vincent worked as a poorly paid stagiaire for 14 months. “It’s a vicious circle,” he says. “They’re taking our jobs. The fewer jobs there are for young people, the more stagiaires there are doing real jobs. Yet during this time they’re working for next to nothing, without contributing to their retirement, their unemployment benefit. As far as business is concerned, it’s a bargain.”

Now 25, Vincent finally has a job as a lawyer in a big manufacturing company.

The Battle Continues

To redress the imbalance, Génération Précaire is demanding that stagiaires be given legal protection. Last year they were even invited to present their argument to French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

However, the only legal concession so far has been a law passed in August 2006. It bans stages that replace those temporarily off work – such as a woman on maternity leave – or those who have been sacked. A code of conduct has also been signed by the state, the national education authority and business leaders. The agreement is not binding and no sanctions are planned against those who ignore it.

Génération Précaire wants to see a tougher legal framework. But France’s main business movement, the MEDEF, worries that too much regulation could discourage companies.

“Let’s avoid exploitation, but let’s not kill off the stage,” warns Eric Bertier, a member of MEDEF’s New Generation Commission and head of human resources at PricewaterhouseCoopers France. “The stage is vital. It’s the only way to bring together theory and practice. In France, the educational system and the world of work are two completely different things.”

Yet Génération Précaire is determined to fight to the end. With elections coming in 2007, the group hopes to get the attention of the presidential candidates. On an international level, they plan to petition the European parliament, and launch initiatives with other European groups. Their cause has resonated in the four corners of the European Union: in Germany, Switzerland and Italy as well as France. The masks are not yet ready to come off.