LETTER DRAFT

(Name of MP) MP's Address/Constituency Office Dear Name of MP , As a citizen living in your constituency, I would like to divert your attention to the topic of unpaid internships in the UK. This is a major problem and should be taken very seriously within government. Employment experts say that about half a million internships are unpaid and sometimes they don't even help future employment, but sometimes internships are the key to finding a job and building a career. I believe that unpaid internships are exploiting us and taking advantage of young people to do work that companies usually pay to be done. Internships on average last about one month, and interns are expected to work full time for that period of time for free. Most internships, especially in artistic industries, are located in big cities like London or Manchester. People living outside these cities have to pay for travel and accommodation, not to mention the cost of living. This makes unpaid internships unaffordable. By making students and graduates who have paid a lot of money for their education pay for travel and living expenses to get critical work experience seems very unfair. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read this letter, and I hope you will do the right thing by raising awareness on the problem of unpaid internships. Your Sincerely (Signature) (Your Name)

THE SCRIPT

Yasmin: Good morning, I am Yasmin and this is my group (change slide) (Jack, Qadar and Georgina). (change slide) The problem with unpaid internships are that politicians currently are not taking it serious. They need to start addressing it as a matter of priority. Too many people are getting away with it and it is just not right. The more this carries on, the longer the problem will carry on for. They are the ones that can change all this. They are the ones that change the legislation. Here is what we have planned to help raise awareness. (change slide) Jack: We will be sending MP's to our university for a question/answer session with hopefully a lot of students who want change. Georgina: We will be using twitter and skype to get people from all over Britain involved, Jack will be in control of this, and getting some questions to ask the politicians. Quadar: There will be refreshments available on the night, and Georgina will be in charge of the buffet table and drinks. Yasmin: And I would be the presenter. I would introduce the MP's to the audience and people watching at home. Quadar would be in charge if anyone does get a bit angry. She will be the person who cools them down. (next slide) Jack: We think doing this is very important because politicians have the power to change any errors within the system. Unpaid internships are unfair. Travel and accommodation is expensive for people living in London, let alone all people living over the UK. Therefore, if we can notify them and inform about the employers that are making people volunteer, it may open their minds on the problem. Those people can also attend the event and share their experiences. (next slide) We will use social media sites to get people outside of Hendon involved. To get Middlesex students and Hendon residents involved. Georgina: we will use Leaflets, posters and help from the student union. The event will be Live streamed via Ustream on the night. (next slide). We think it's important to make this event free. With the help of the student union it should be quite easy to organise. We will try our best to get our MPs into the university. We will all contact our local MPs to discuss unpaid internships and hopefully address the matter once and for all. We will also ask other people within the community to do the same, we then have a variety of people to choose from. If we have at least one or two MPs coming, that would be great. (next slide) Quadar: If you pick us, we will receive £1,000 pounds. This will be used on getting the MP's to the university. This shows that we are taking this very seriously and might persuade the MP' to come. Hopefully we will find somewhere that supports us to help us print out posters and leaflets for free, but if not, we will have to use some of our budget for that. Also we will need to pay for enough refreshments so everyone that arrives will be catered for. Maybe we could create an event facebook page, so we know how many people will be coming, and how much refreshments we need to buy. (next slide) Yasmin: Are there any questions?