Friday 2 November 2012

Multimillionaire Tony Blair agrees to pay his interns the minimum wage

The Office of Tony Blair, which helps to administrate his consultancy and diplomatic interests has agreed to pay his interns the National Minimum Wage. It was the government of Tony Blair in 1998 who introduced the minimum wage. This decision to modify such shoddy behaviour only came about after the Office of Tony Blair was exposed by a careers website named Graduate Fog, their reports were picked up by the Guardian newspaper.

The current rate for the minimum wage stands at £6.08 per hour. The current rate for the London Living Wage stands at £8.30. But the Office of Tony Blair are not offering that which seems odd given that his office is based in central London. The London Living Wage campaign was started by  a group called Citizens UK who describe themselves as the national home of community organising.

Estimates for the sainted Tony Blair's wealth vary. Both the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph have estimated this year that his annual income is in the region of £20 million.

Gus Baker from Intern Aware queried why Tony Blair wasn't paying all his interns:

"While it is good and welcome that Blair has relented and agreed to pay the interns in his private office, he still reportedly does not pay those working for his charity. Failing to pay at least the national minimum wage isn't just unfair on those who are asked to work for free, it excludes those who can't afford to. Tony Blair should know better and pay all his interns a fair wage."