*************UPDATE***************** In response to this petition, NYU has responded! After negotiating with NYU officials as a result of the petition, NYU has heightened its protections against illegal unpaid internships on its career site (all changes effective as of January 2014). Employers must now verify that their internship positions comply with the US Department of Labor guidelines before posting, among several other measures. (Read more here: http://college.usatoday.com/2014/02/20/nyus-new-internship-oversight-raises-questions-about-unpaid-internships/) Thank you for putting your signature on this petition and creating the first successful student-led movement against the university's involvement in contributing to illegal unpaid internships. More progress is on the way! To get involved in future campaigns on this issue, email [email protected]. **************************************** Unpaid internships are illegal* and unfair; many violate federal and state labor laws. They deny people the pay they earn, the rights they are entitled to, and the opportunities they deserve. By posting illegal unpaid internships, the Wasserman Center is perpetuating issues in the following categories: --Economic: unpaid internships displace employees, take away jobs, and devalue work (unpaid interns at the average company receive only a 1% advantage in getting a job at that company than an applicant who has never worked there) --Legal: unpaid interns are not protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and therefore have no standing in court against discrimination or sexual harassment --Class: only those who can afford unpaid internships can have them --Race: minority groups are almost systematically at a disadvantage with lower economic support and face discrimination without legal protection --LGBTQ: face discrimination without legal protection --Gender: 77% of unpaid internships are held by women while more paid positions are awarded to men, which widens the gender income gap (women make $0.78 for every dollar a man makes) --Human Rights: if workers are treated as employees, they should be compensated fairly for their work. NYU’s Wasserman Career Center would never post positions that were not open to women, or LGBT people, or people of color. They should not post positions that are not open to people who cannot afford to work for free. Join us in our fight against illegal labor exploitation. Sign this petition to stop NYU’s Wasserman Career Center from posting ads for illegal unpaid internships. *Unpaid internships are illegal if the internship is FOR-PROFIT and does not follow the six criteria outlined by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. Therefore, this campaign specifically targets unpaid internships in the for-profit sector that violate these provisions. The following six criteria must be applied when making this determination: 1.The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment; 2.The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern; 3.The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff; 4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded; 5.The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and 6.The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

----2015 UPDATE--- In an interview with Julie Foudy, Abby Wambach broke news that FIFA leaders assured her that the Women's World Cup would never again be played on turf. She said, “[Valcke] assured us that the Women’s World Cup would never be played on turf again. He gave me his word, which for me, that’s a win. For me, that’s progress.” Original text: In 2012, the Women’s Gold Medal soccer match for the London Olympics was the NBC Sports Network’s most watched event in the network's history with 4.35 million viewers. More people around the world livestreamed the women's final than any other sporting event during the Olympics. And yet, still, professional women soccer players struggle to be given the respect they deserve. The latest insult to professional women soccer players comes with the decision by FIFA to hold the entire 2015 Women's World Cup tournament on artificial turf. When Abby Wambach -- the 2012 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year -- heard of this news, she noted, "The men would strike playing on artificial turf." And Wambach, who is known for her physical style of play, should be especially worried. The American Academy of Neurology recently reported that concussions appear to be more prevalent for certain athletes playing on artificial turf, and that women athletes appear more likely to experience concussions in soccer than in other sports. Artificial turf has been blamed for increased injuries on sporting fields, including more sprained ankles, concussions, turf burns, and an injury known as "turf toe." Overheating is also a health concern for athletes since temperatures can be hotter on artificial surfaces than on natural grass. Finally, turf is widely known to alter the speed and quality of play on the field. With all of this in mind, it's not hard to understand why many players feel that being forced to play their World Cup on artificial turf is gender discrimination. I'm a huge fan of women's soccer. I love going to Washington Spirit games -- where the team plays on natural grass -- and I'm excited to attend the upcoming CONCACAF qualifiers for the Women's World Cup. These women deserve respect for their athleticism and that's why I'm standing up with professional players from national teams around the world who have spoken out and signed on to this campaign as well. Some of the best soccer players in the world deserve to play the most competitive matches of their lives on real grass. FIFA has the power to modify the venues for the World Cup games to fields with real grass. Do the right thing, FIFA, and give professional women soccer players the respect they deserve. ----Signatures from Players---- More than 70 national team players from at least 17 different national teams have signed this petition to FIFA calling for natural grass in the 2015 Women's World Cup. Below is a list of professional players who've added their name to this public petition: Abby Wambach - USA Heather O'Reilly - USA Carli Lloyd - USA Shannon Boxx - USA Ali Krieger - USA Alex Morgan - USA Whitney Engen - USA Ashlyn Harris - USA Christie Rampone - USA 安藤 梢 (Kozue Ando) - JPN 大儀見 優季 (Yūki Ōgimi) - JPN Anja Mittag - GER Nadine Angerer - GER Annike Krahn - GER Célia Okoyino da Mbabi - GER Kim Kulig - GER Almuth Schult - GER Laura Benkarth - GER Melanie Behringer - GER Nadine Keßler - GER Lena Goeßling - GER Alexandra Popp - GER Babbett Peter - GER Melissa Barbieri - AUS Sam Kerr - AUS Caitlin Foord - AUS Natalia Gaitan - COL Melissa Ortiz - COL Nataly Arias - COL Stefany Castaño - COL Eugénie Le Sommer - FRA Camille Abily - FRA Wendie Renard - FRA Sarah Bouhaddi - FRA Élise Bussaglia - FRA Louisa Nécib - FRA Caroline Seger - SWE Lotta Schelin - SWE Kosavare Asllani - SWE Olivia Schough - SWE Sara Thunebro - SWE Malin Levenstad - SWE Sofia Lundgren - SWE Emma Berglund - SWE Charlotte Rohlin - SWE Hedvig Lindahl - SWE Nilla Fischer - SWE Annica Svensson - SWE Therese Sjoran - SWE Caroline Jönsson - SWE Anita Asante - ENG Faye White - ENG Nora Holstad - NOR Ingvild Isaken - NOR Maren Mjelde - NOR Arianna Romero - MEX Theresa 'Lupita' Worbis - MEX Jackie Acevedo - MEX Renae Cuéllar - MEX Ana-Maria Crnogorčević - SUI Noëlle Maritz - SUI Vanessa Bernauer - SUI Sandra Betschart - SUI Martina Moser - SUI Rahel Kiwic - SUI Fabienne Humm - SUI Shannon Smyth - IRL Ciara Grant (b. 1993) - IRL Veronica Boquete - ESP Erin Nayler - NZF Stefanía Maggiolini - URY Desire Oparanozie - NGA Indira Ilić - SRB Getter Laar - EST Michelle Akers - USA (Retired) Linda Hamilton - USA (Retired) Sandra Smisek - GER (Retired)

My name is Duane, and I’m a proud father of my beautiful five-year-old daughter. I worked at Juicy Couture’s flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City for almost four years in the stock department. I started this petition with my coworker Darrell, because while we stock & sell Juicy Couture’s $200 jeans and sweaters, the company decided they don’t want to take care of their workers. Darrell was a successful full-time sales associate for two and half years, until the company started pushing full-time workers out. When I started, I also got 40 hours a week, but I struggled along with my coworkers as our hours were cut. Eventually, I was down to 14 hours each week. When I asked for more hours, they said they couldn’t give them to me because I didn’t have open availability – because of my daughter. When we began working at Juicy Couture, many of us were full-time. Now, only 19 of the store’s 128 employees are full-time! Not only are they firing full-time workers and replacing us with a part-time workforce, just this month Juicy capped all part-time workers hours at 21 hours per week. We quickly realized that Juicy Couture is doing everything they can to not take care of its workers. See, it was hard enough for us to make ends meet in New York City as full-time retail workers. But by keeping hours under 30 per week, Juicy Couture will no longer be required to offer their workers affordable health care – part of the Affordable Health Care Act’s plan to make sure more working Americans have basic health care. Further, we were told we’re only eligible for paid time off in case we’re sick or have other responsibilities if we work 1400 hours in one year. We did the math, and realized part-time workers reach that at 21 hours per week. This means that the vast majority of Juicy Couture’s workers will not ever get one single paid sick day. Darrell and I are just two of the full-time employees that have been forced out of Juicy Couture by having our hours cut or being fired. Now we’re speaking out on behalf of my coworkers who remain at the store, because we all deserve Just Hours. We know from experience that Juicy has loyal customers and dedicated employees -- if enough of us speak out and demand Just Hours, they'll have no choice but to act.

http://youtu.be/E8lKrbD2U84 Dear Mr. Thompson, My name is Jorge Rios. I’m a student guestworker from Argentina who came to the U.S. on the State Department’s J-1 Summer Work Travel Program, together with other students from Latin America and Asia. We paid $3,000-4,000 each to come to the United States on this program, expecting a cultural exchange and good work that would let us earn back this money over three months and travel a bit at the end. Instead, we became exploited workers at McDonald’s restaurants in Pennsylvania. We had terrible working and housing conditions. We faced threats, stolen wages, grease burns up and down our arms. We were only used to enrich our employer. We expected to have 40 hours of work a week, but we were given as little as four hours a week at the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The employer knew we were desperate for more hours, and he kept us on call to come in with 30 minutes’ notice all day and night. I didn’t even have time to visit the public library. If we ever answered that we couldn’t work a shift—if someone was sick or exhausted when they got a call at 4 in the morning—the managers retaliated by giving us even less hours. We could not quit because we knew that if we did, our visas would be cancelled. One manager told us, “You better remember, all we have to do is make one phone call and we can deport you back to your country at any time.” Our employer Andy Cheung charged us $300 each per month to live in basement apartments he owned. As many as eight of us lived in a single basement. We slept on bunkbeds made for children that shook and squeaked. We had no privacy whatsoever. When we talked to the U.S. workers alongside us, we learned that they were being exploited too. They told us they also faced too few hours, threats from managers, and unpaid overtime. This is not the America we believed in. We believe America is a beautiful country, where everyone can have respect and fair treatment at work. We decided to stand up for ourselves, for other J-1 student guestworkers, and for U.S. workers. Today, with the support of the National Guestworker Alliance, my fellow students and I held a surprise work stoppage at the McDonald’s where we worked. We met with allies from the community, with local workers, and with unemployed people. We told our stories, and said that no one should have to experience what we did. We asked to meet with our employer Andy Cheung, but he refused. So we are respectfully asking you, as President and CEO of McDonald’s: 1. That McDonald’s pay us students back all the money we are owed, including the money we spent to come work for the company, unpaid overtime, and housing overcharges; 2. That McDonald’s offer full-time work to its U.S. workers, who are struggling with too few hours; 3. That McDonald’s reveal all the stores where it employs guestworkers, and sign an agreement with the National Guestworker Alliance to guarantee basic labor standards for them, including protections from retaliation when workers organize against abuse. Sincerely, Jorge Rios and the McDonald’s J-1 Student Guestworkers

This petition is crucial because it highlights the urgent need for fair wages and accountability at Glu Hospitality. Recently, we witnessed the closure of 1225 Raw due to their inability to pay chefs, leaving many workers without the wages they earned and still owed. This situation exemplifies a broader issue within our industry, where workers are often left vulnerable to wage theft and unfair pay practices. By uniting our voices through this petition, we demand transparency in wage distribution and assurance that all tips are handled fairly. Our call for accountability is not just about protecting our rights as current employees; it’s about preventing future workers from facing similar hardships. We want to ensure that all employees at Glu Hospitality receive the compensation they deserve, fostering a respectful and sustainable work environment. Together, we can create change that not only benefits us now but also sets a precedent for fair labor practices in the restaurant industry.

I know there has been discussion about eliminating the Focus Health Stockton supply rooms (Stockton and Modesto offices). I am deeply concerned that eliminating the supply rooms will negatively impact patient care. As healthcare workers, we must advocate for our patients. There have been numerous occasions where supplies were not delivered to the patient or clinician on time. A trip to the office to grab an extra Foley catheter can prevent a delay in care for a patient. Focus Health Stockton employees are trusted with caring for patient lives, and we should therefore also be trusted to use the supply room diligently as a resource in times of need.

We, the staff of the Hogsett Administration, are coming forward with these demands because of the inaction from leadership in recent weeks. We are seeking accountability and transparency in regards to how leadership intends to reform the culture that has enabled abuse, sexual and otherwise. Many City-County job responsibilities are inherently stressful; it is our goal that all staff are safe from sexual harassment and all forms of inappropriate workplace behavior, so staff can focus their time and energy on helping Marion County residents. We are hopeful that the actions identified here can put an end to the harmful practices that so many of us have experienced firsthand. 

Let's stand together for a positive change.

We must fight the loss of career development for our colleagues.

The Arlington County Public Schools Career Center construction project is a $175 million dollar project yet the school board has no requirements that contractors pay decent wages, avoid wage theft, and provide decent jobs for our community.

Every driver on the road is suffering over this new highway robbery called upfront fare. These companies shouldn’t be able to make 40 percent or more of the fares when we pay all the expenses

It’s important to all of us getting more hours & a little bit more pay cause all that hard work we do & our customers treat us bad & we don’t even deserve that especially from minimum wage . Hours would help so we have time to go through our selves to see what’s expired & to clean up pharmacy & be there for our customer instead of always try to rush them cause we have a line