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Comment by girvo | Hacker News Reader

How the heck is the “stage” system legal? Working, unpaid, for full time hours for three months? That’s disgusting beyond measure.

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And in a country where these things are supposed to be guaranteed at a higher level by their government, compared to other countries.

Peculiar how despite all the promises, marketing, media, and government revenue, these things still happen.

> all the promises, marketing, media?

Which promises, marketing, and media?

how about from the official danish government website, if you don't trust my personal experience of living in denmark and moving back to the USA.

https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/happiness

https://denmark.dk/society-and-business/the-danish-labour-ma...

care to say why you moved back?

I will be open and honest in saying that I make a higher salary here in the USA, I enjoy owning firearms, and I have the unique luxury of having an acre of land of trees and grass but still am only 10 minutes from a whole foods. It's a very unique type of life and I feel very grateful. These things are important to me, and maybe some of that is possible in Denmark too.

However, Denmark was a very fun country to party in before I was married and so on :)

Makes sense to me.

Yeah, Danes (including me) like to think all is well, and while it's pretty good -- there are lots of things that could be better!

A very fair summary of your country :) At least you have a process which you can influence for change. Other countries, like my own, seem to be becoming a free for all everyday!

I think you misunderstand what those pages are saying. Working conditions like minimum wage is NOT guaranteed by the government in Denmark. Indeed, this is sometimes called the “Danish model”, where such conditions are negotiated between employer an employee/union, and the government stays out of these negotiatons.

It is pretty funny you think government guarantees has been “marketed”, when the touted “Danish model” is exactly the oppposite.

I find it absolutely riveting that you think unpaid labor, which is what we are talking about from the article, is legal or encouraged in Denmark, let alone the United States.

Unpaid labor in the form of internships is legal in Denmark.

So when the Danish government said they were "safeguarding the welfare of employees" in the link above, was this class of human excluded in your eyes? Do they not deserve to be paid for their time?

As you are probably aware, there is a push to make unpaid internships illegal in the USA. Bernie Sanders wants to make the USA "more like Denmark", but in this regard the two countries are already the same, no?

Im not that familiar with Bernie Sanders policies, but it seems he is in favor of a federal minimum wage, which means he isnt actually promoting the Danish Model for the labour market. Maybe he wants a social safety net and healthcare like in Denmark, but not the Danish Model for the labour market?

Here is a tweet of him saying he doesn't want unpaid internships to exist.

https://mobile.twitter.com/berniesanders/status/112617754437...

Yeah, the part of the Danish Job market that is a game between unions and employers, can really suck if co-workers aren't unionized.

Like there is no minimum wage in Denmark. And a unions ability to blockade an employer whose employees aren't unionized are not fantastic -- it does happen though.

Students of vocational schools go through the same thing - it's required to graduate.

Which I also think is ridiculous, but this isn’t tied to a degree or qualification; it’s unpaid work to maybe get a job. That’s beyond ridiculous.

Stage is french for internship..so...

In many countries, unpaid internships are also illegal

Unpaid internships are not acceptable either. Especially not for full time hours, doing work for free that the business makes profit from. Illegal where I am for good reason.

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