'It's in complete crisis' – architects form trade union amid fury and despair over exploitation

Low pay, shocking hours and cut-throat competition spell misery in a profession with few safeguards. We meet the young architects who are fighting backUnpaid overtime, precarious contracts, working hours so antisocial your only friends are people who do the same job … after a minimum of seven years’ education and professional training, the reality of working as an architect can be a bleak prospect. It’s not hard to see why so many of them wear black, as if in permanent mournin