The EU wants to improve the position of trainees at the workplace

Unpaid internships are still quite common in many industries. There is also room for improvement in guidance on traineeships and its availability.

The development of education and training within the European Union is strongly regulated by the Member States at the national level. However, EU policies and decisions have a significant impact on the direction in which education and training are developed in Finland as well.

The most recent example of the significance of EU decisions is from this spring and concerns the ‘Traineeships Directive’. The Directive aims to improve the position and legal protection of trainees on the labour market, as well as to prohibit employment relationships disguised as traineeships. The European Commission published an initiative for a Traineeships Directive and a related Recommendation in March. The European Parliament and the Council are still processing them.

There is room for improvement in the status of trainees in all the EU Member States, including Finland, as indicated by recent news about suspected human trafficking in the restaurant industry where the victims were unpaid trainees, according to the entrepreneur. The Directive will force Member States to boost their controls and checks on traineeships. In addition, whistleblowing channels for trainees to report any observed malpractice must be created.

Unpaid internships are unfair

In addition to the Directive, the Commission made a proposal to update the Recommendation on the quality of traineeships. The proposed Recommendation covers matters such as fair pay for trainees and traineeship guidance. The Recommendation covers all types of traineeship, including those in connection with education or training, e.g. apprenticeships, training agreements and university internships.

Although the Recommendation is not binding on Member States, it is hoped that it will guide the development of traineeship practices also in Finland to make them fairer and more equal. Unpaid internships are still quite common in many industries. There is also room for improvement in guidance on traineeships and its availability, as indicated by the results of a survey on the studies, working life and wellbeing of vocational school students in Finland (AMIS), for example.

Finland’s position on the Traineeships Directive and Recommendation is currently being formulated. The Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK) considers it important that the working conditions of trainees are improved and efforts are made to better identify and prevent employment relationships disguised as traineeships. One of the objectives of the Traineeships Directive is to allow workers’ representatives to defend the rights of trainees at the workplace. Ensuring that workers’ representatives are informed of people doing different kinds of internships at the workplace is therefore important.

Also read a news article about the Traineeships Directive on the FinUnions website.

Riina Nousiainen
The author is a Senior Advisor on Education in STTK.