Thirty-five thousand Quebec students went on strike earlier this spring with a singular and simple demand: interns must be paid for their labor. On this week’s episode of Unpacking the News, academic and activist Eleni Schirmer (Jacobin, Labor Notes, The Progressive) joins associate producer Savanna Craig and host Andre Goulet to explain what’s behind the growing movement against unpaid internships.

Plus: Canada’s most diabolical lawyer forces the Trudeau government to drop its prosecution of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman and General Motors performs a devious bait and switch in Oshawa.

For more on the student strike movement go to https://jacobinmag.com/2019/03/quebec-unpaid-internships-strike-university and https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/provincial-wide-strike-begins-ahead-of-provincial-governments-budget-reveal

Music on this episode, Timewalker's 'Mt. Fuji', is courtesy of Creative Commons

Support the show at patreon.com/unpackingthenews

This conversation was recorded on May 14th, 2019.

Find the full clips on Youtube:
* Canadian vice-admiral Mark Norman, lawyer speak about trial after charges dropped
* GM, Unifor announce investment in Oshawa plant that will save 300 jobs
* Unpaid Interns_ Enough is Enough!