For a university to exploit the workforce of one of the population groups with by far the worst purchasing power is way over the line.
Volunteering? That can be a good thing, that. Work for free? No thanks. In this week’s edition of Universitas, you can read about students who have stood at the Open Day at the University of Oslo. This involves talking to visiting students and other interested parties about what it is like to go to UiO, various courses of study and student life. But it turns out that not everyone was paid for the work they did.
The practice is completely different from faculty to faculty. Some of the students received a salary of NOK 217 per hour, while others had to settle for gift cards as compensation. The most unlucky only got lunch – all in the spirit of charity, and in the good faith that the others who stood did the same.
Equal pay for equal work is a concept that UiO may not have heard of. For the record: Gift vouchers are not wages. Lunch is not salary. Exploitation of young labor is only okay when it is NPD day. Students who spend a day in the university’s service deserve fair compensation – no matter how rewarding they think it is. A day spent working is a day that must be made up in the reading room. Then it should be worth it.
It is squeamish of UiO not to lay tough guidelines.
UiO must have become aware of the various practices after an earlier review of the Open Day event. Head of the section for communication at UiO, Liv Dalen Tennøe, says that they recommend the faculties to pay the students, while at the same time that they should be allowed to choose how to solve it. One recommendation to pay is not at all the same as an instruction to pay. This should be a simple piece of math, not an abstract concept. The line they lie on opens the door to the fact that some people get cash while others get breadcrumbs. It’s squeamish of them not to lay down tough guidelines – they have the authority to do that.
For a university to exploit the workforce of one of the population groups with by far the worst purchasing power is way over the line. It becomes particularly double standards when the students at Åpen dag stand up as good representatives of a university, which in this case does not appreciate them. Literally.
Kykkeli-ky, Universitas is taking Easter vacation
The editorial team is taking an extra long Easter break, but will be back online and in print in week 15. On Thursday 11 April, you will find brand new paper newspapers in the racks, and we can tempt you with exclusive items from our reporting trip to South Korea. You can read more about the trip on Instagram already: @universitas_offisiell. Pay attention!
