Plum Sykes Sparks Unpaid Intern Debate

Plum Sykes, an editor at Vogue and former assistant to Anna Wintour, is under fire for employing unpaid interns to help run her Substack newsletter. With over 20,000 followers, some paying £65 for her content, Sykes utilizes students for various tasks, including sourcing photographers and managing social media analytics. This practice has ignited a debate about fair compensation in creative industries.

Legal employment guidelines in 2026 suggest that unpaid internships are only permissible if they are a mandatory part of a student's course, for charitable purposes, or purely for shadowing. Productive work, however, entitles interns to at least the national minimum wage. Sykes contends that her interns are gaining essential work experience and course credits, differentiating it from formal, paid internships.

This controversy echoes past issues, including a $5.8 million settlement by Condé Nast over underpaid interns. Critics, such as Sophie Sajnani of a university consulting firm, highlight that institutions like Condé Nast have already confronted the costs of unpaid labor, and similar models are resurfacing. Union leaders are calling for legislative changes to clarify that unpaid work is illegal.