They Have A Point

Unpaid interns sue Fox Searchlight.

If the studios (and prod companies and agencies, etc) started paying for interns...well...there would be a lot fewer interns and most of the work would just get done by already overworked assistants. There is a structural problem with the bottom of the entertainment industry - the qualified are often massively underpaid, but it is tough to find the qualified amongst the massive number of unqualified people who want these jobs. Internships basically provide a compromise.

Still, I'll bet it's easier to get an unpaid internship that transitions somehow into a job one day than getting a union gig.