Internet unleashes fury after charity fighting slavery posts ad for unpaid intern

Today’s job market can be tough. Around the world, citizens are battling for fair compensation and basic rights. So it should come as no surprise that people called out the hypocricy of a recent job posting on the British classifieds website Gumtree.com.

The ad reads:

“Unpaid Internship as Personal Assistant

City of London, London

Fight Against Slavery is a Charity based in London.

We work to fight the issues of Human Rights.

At the moment we are looking for a Personal Assistant…”

This photo of the ad was posted to Reddit along with the title “Ohh the irony…” and was quick to draw the ire of folks online.

While many wanted to take jabs at the parallels between unpaid work and slavery, others weighed in with more nuanced explanations of what an internship should be:

“askjacob” wrote:

“An internship is meant to be a peering relationship – you don’t get paid as you are gaining experience by ghosting alongside professional people. If you start producing “real work” then guess what, you are a damn employee. Very few places get this.”

But the majority of folks just wanted to be cheeky:

As for the charity, Fight Against Slavery, it has no website and the Daily Mail reports that it is not registered with the Charity Commission, a requirement of all charities in the UK.

In an interview with the Mail, charity director Chiara Chiavaroli said that neither she nor her colleagues are paid and that the charity is new and has applied and is waiting for its charity number.

The offending ad has since been removed while, one imagines, the charity rethinks its hiring practices and public relations strategies.