再有2家知名名杂志取消实习生计划，回应安省政府的无酬实习取缔措施。

罗渣士(Rogers)旗下《Flare 加拿大时尚杂志》与《Chatelaine 城堡女主人》本周稍早时终止实习项目，《加拿大时尚杂志》实习生没有工资，但《城堡女主人》杂志的实习生每月有400元酬劳，折算时薪远低于安省最低工资。

罗渣士媒体(Rogers Media)采取上述行动，早前安省劳工厅出击，两家杂志即取消实习计划，那是《Walrus 海象》与《Toronto Life 多伦多生活》杂志。

罗渣士媒体发言人Louise Leger在周五的声明说﹕“从今开始，我们的实习项目一律伙拍教育机构，或转为有薪职位。”她又说，公司相信“实习是宝贵机会，让学生和新毕业生吸收实际经验。”
但1名前《加拿大时尚杂志》实习生不以为然，驳斥吸收宝贵经验论。

安省密西沙加市23岁大学毕业生Lauren Delfin说﹕“做的是一些琐碎杂工，我在实习中没学到什么东西。

“我们有问，杂志如何制作，但没学到什么。他们不让我们参与制作，他们只会找我们安排FedExed快递等事情，又或是处理那一类锁事。我们不做那些事情，他们就要掏钱找他人做。”

新民主党国会议员卡什（Andrew Cash）反对无偿实习，他催促联邦保守党政府，遏制“蛮荒西部”无薪实习，特别是大型、牟利公司，例如连锁酒店、受联邦监管的电讯公司。

其中一些公司，例如贝尔，每年雇用数以百计无薪实习生。

联邦财政委员会上周聆讯，探讨年轻人失业率，尤其是无酬实习问题。

多个证人催促渥京政府正视青年失业问题，加强措施，监管无酬实习，遏制滥用者。

Bell Mobility scraps unpaid internship program, perhaps permanently

OTTAWA - Bell Mobility has at least temporarily scrapped a controversial program that recruits hundreds of interns each year to work without pay at the company, one of Canada's largest and most profitable telecommunications firms.

After callers were told earlier this week that Bell was not accepting applications for its so-called Professional Management Program, the phone number associated with the initiative now goes unanswered. Its recruitment and application web page is also down.

"The Professional Management Program was completed last April and is no longer available," company spokesman Albert Lee said in an email. He wouldn't say whether the program had been permanently terminated.

A year ago, a former intern sought back wages from Bell Mobility after working for five weeks under the program. Jainna Patel claimed the internship had no educational value and that she was doing the same work as a paid employee.

Patel's complaint was rejected by a federal labour inspector, but she's appealing the decision with the help of a Toronto labour lawyer.

The apparent demise of the program could mean Bell has finally seen the light, said Tim Gleason of Dewart Gleason LLP, the firm representing Patel.

"Perhaps they are concerned about ongoing liability?" he said. "We hope that this is a signal that Bell has joined the growing consensus that people need to be paid for their work."

Canadian companies large and small are nervously eyeing their unpaid internship programs due to increasing scrutiny about the practice, an NDP politician said in an interview Friday.

"Many companies are taking a serious look these days at their internship programs in part due to the spotlight that's been put on the issue of unpaid work, especially as it affects young people," said Toronto MP Andrew Cash, who backs his colleague Laurin Liu's private member's bill that would protect those who work for free.

"Even small businesses out there that have internship programs — we're talking about companies with wafer-thin profits — are saying we don't know what the rules are, but whatever they are, we want to comply. But the fact of the matter is, there aren't any federal rules at all."

The issue has been under a national spotlight since Andrew Ferguson, a student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, died in 2011 while driving home from an unpaid internship. He had worked a 16-hour day at a radio station where he was doing his internship.

Earlier this year, the Ontario government cracked down on the practice at a host of Toronto-based magazines, including Flare, owned by Rogers Media, and the Walrus.

Those publications have since ceased to employ unpaid interns.

Many interns are beginning to complain publicly about their internships, particularly those who have worked for profitable corporations.

Lewis Krashinsky, 20, worked for free for three months last summer for Sportsnet, a Rogers media outlet.

"I am thrilled that I got the experience and was given the opportunity and it was valuable, but looking back, why wasn't I paid?" he said in an interview.

"I was doing the work of a full-time employee. Why couldn't there have been fair compensation as well as experience? They're not incompatible concepts."

He added that despite the repeated praise he received for his on-the-job performance, he was unable to secure a reference letter from his employers after the internship ended simply because no one would reply to his emails.

Sportsnet spokeswoman Jennifer Neziol said the company was reaching out to Krashinsky to ensure he gets his letter of reference. She praised him as an "exceptional" employee during his internship.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Death+knell+sounding+unpaid+interns...