Quinn seeks unpaid interns, higher minimum wage

Perusing Gov. Pat Quinn’s website, one can easily find calls for increasing Illinois’ minimum wage to $10 from $8.25. Just a few clicks away is an application to work for the governor, full time: for free. If Quinn did what he says he wants every Illinois employer to do – pay these workers $10 an...

Perusing Gov. Pat Quinn’s website, one can easily find calls for increasing Illinois’ minimum wage to $10 from $8.25. Just a few clicks away is an application to work for the governor, full time: for free.

If Quinn did what he says he wants every Illinois employer to do – pay these workers $10 an hour – he’d have fewer people working for his re-election. Instead, he’s hypocritically padding his rolls.

In hiking the minimum wage by more than 20 percent, Quinn would make life harder for young men and women trying to gain entry-level work experience, not to mention the business owner who is looking to hire them.

But if Quinn himself benefits from the work of these “energetic, hardworking individuals,” it appears he has no issue with paying them squat (and let’s not forget gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, who has also posted unpaid internship opportunities).

Quinn should recognize the hypocrisy his internship program poses. Maybe then he’ll understand that a minimum-wage hike denies young people the opportunity to learn important skills in the private sector.

Photo credit: M. Spencer Green