Norwegian clothing chain pays back interns after massive criticism
Holzweiler has been paying salaries to all unpaid trainees since 2014.
It reports the clothing chain on its own Instagram.
The clothing chain has been in bad weather after they advertised a position without pay.
The position was a regular internship, where after an unpaid intern for six months.
On its Instagram, the brand now writes that they have had an internal review after the recent media reports, and that it shows that they have had 19 people who have been employed in unpaid internships since 2014.
12 of these have later been employed after the internship period.
– Regardless of what is, or has been the industry standard in general, we want to correct previous practices. We make close contact with all former trainees to make sure they get paid for their internship period, they write.
Does not answer about salary
VG has been in contact with the general manager of Holzweiler, Andreas Holzweiler, on Saturday night.
– The reason why we pay in arrears is that even though this is a practice in the industry, we do not want to be responsible for it. We are now cleaning up our own house, Holzweiler writes in an SMS.
VG has asked what those who get paid in arrears get paid in hourly wages and what this amounts to in total.
Holzweiler does not respond directly to it, but says that the clothing chain has consulted with LO about it.
– You said it was a mistake that made the position unpaid. But if this has been a practice with you for a number of years, how could it have been a mistake?
– Yes, the last ad was a wrong ad, and we have apologized, and at the same time said that we should go through previous years and practice. We have done that.
Great success
The Norwegian fashion brand Holzweiler has had great success in recent years. They have opened their own flagship stores, showcased their collections during the fashion week in Copenhagen and even started their own restaurant.
Since the start in 2012, the sibling couple Susanne and Andreas Holzweiler, as well as Maria Skappel Holzweiler, have built up from the ground up in 2012 to a million-dollar company with a turnover of more than DKK 150 million. They have also been highlighted by Dagens Næringsliv as a so-called Gaselle farm with a healthy economy.
Holzweiler had a profit of 17, 7 and 12 million respectively in 2020, 2019 and 2018.