Dem congresswoman caves when interns in unpaid positions threaten to strike for compensation

Evie Fordham, DCNF

SEATAC, WA - JUNE 09: Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal speaks at a press conference outside a Federal Detention Center holding migrant women on June 9, 2018 in SeaTac, Washington. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal visited the Federal Detention Center-SeaTac to meet with more than 100 asylum seekers, many of whom are women. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images) — (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

Washington Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal will pay her re-election campaign interns after 16 unpaid interns threatened to strike earlier in July.

“The exploitative conditions of our labor differ so drastically from the supposed principles of this campaign that we can no longer, in good faith, continue our work without a critical reevaluation of the conditions of our compensation,” the interns told Jayapal’s campaign staff in a letter, reported online Seattle news site Crosscut.

Jayapal’s team agreed to pay 12 campaign interns approximately $18 per hour for 10 hours of work per week, reported Crosscut.

The letter stressed that unpaid internships filter out all candidates but those who can afford to work without pay, reported Crosscut.

“It is contrary for Rep. Jayapal’s campaign team to stand by its unpaid internship program while also preaching that the field lacks racial, gender, economic or geographic diversity,” continued the letter, according to Crosscut.

The threatened strike came just weeks before Jayapal’s Democratic primary on Aug. 7 as she seeks reelection to Washington’s seventh congressional district in 2018. She has represented the district that includes part of Seattle since 2016.

Unpaid interns are common in congressional offices and campaign teams. Only 8 percent of Republican House representatives pay their interns, compared with 3.6 percent of Democratic House representatives, according to a 2017 study by Pay Our Interns.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Jayapal’s office for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Follow Evie on Twitter @eviefordham.

For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!