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Business Title: Student workers protest at Hershey's, say their life not so sweet For 400 foreign students, working at a Hershey's chocolate packing plant in Palmyra, Pa., may be less sweet than it sounds. The National Guestworker Alliance filed a complaint Wednesday on behalf of 400 international students who had apparently paid $3,000 to $6,000 to participate in a U.S.-certified cultural exchange program. The complaint, sent to the U.S. Department of State, says the students were exploited by Hershey Co. and that the company takes unfair advantage of the program. The students also launched a protest at the plant. Those protests were continuing Thursday, with the students, labor leaders and Pennsylvania workers who have joined the fight rallying in downtown Hershey, according to an email alert the alliance sent to The Times The organization, which helped organize the protests, has dubbed their efforts the Justice at Hershey's Campaign. The students, who hail from countries such as China, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Mongolia, Ghana and Thailand, were recruited at their universities to participate in the U.S. State Department J-1 visa program, described on a U.S. State Department website as an Exchange Visitor Program. The program leads to a three-month visa that allows students to work in the United States while learning about American culture and improving their English skills. The goal of the program, according to the State Department's site, is to foster "global understanding through educational and cultural exchange." Instead, says a representative of the National Guestworker Alliance, students who wound up at the Hershey's plant were living in "economic captivity," forced to pay for mandatory company housing that left them with $40 to $140 a week for 40 hours of work. "They were desperate and feeling isolated," the organization's communications director, Stephen Boykewich, said in an interview with The Times. According to the complaint, conveniently made available to media, when the students complained about the violations of U.S. law, "they were threatened with deportation and other long term immigration consequences to remain quiet about the violations." Hershey's did not respond to a Los Angeles Times' request for comment, but company officials told the Associated Press that the warehouse is run by a subcontractor and is expected to treat workers fairly. The AP also reports that a spokeswoman for the subcontractor says another company handles its guest worker program. Of course, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that working at a chocolate factory might not be all sweet dreams and chocolate Kisses. Weren’t the Oompa-Loompas kind of indentured servants? Poster Comment: Slave labor at its best for higher corporate profits. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 40. The students, who hail from countries such as China, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Mongolia, Ghana and Thailand, were recruited at their universities to participate in the U.S. State Department J-1 visa program, described on a U.S. State Department website as an Exchange Visitor Program. The program leads to a three-month visa that allows students to work in the United States while learning about American culture and improving their English skills. Ha. I'm sure the working conditions in their home countries is so much better than those in the USA.
#5. To: Thunderbird (#4) So they should be thankful that they were lured here under false pretense and then treated like shit?
#7. To: war (#5) Who says they were treated like shit? I read they worked a 40 hour week had their room & board deducted from their paychecks. The horror...
#10. To: Thunderbird (#7) Who says they were treated like shit? The article. Did you read it? According to the article...no one is responsible for supervising the working conditions of these students...neat trick, eh?
#13. To: war (#10) According to the article...no one is responsible for supervising the working conditions of these students...neat trick, eh? The article says no such thing. The real question is why, with unemployment in double digits, a dubious program like this exists in the first place. I'm sure there are plenty of American locals willing to do shift work at Hershey without having to import spoiled little shits from other countries.
#16. To: Thunderbird, war (#13) I'm sure there are plenty of American locals willing to do shift work at Hershey without having to import spoiled little shits from other countries. Who is going to force the private business to hire Americans? The Govt? You are now all in favor of govt intervention in the business affairs of a corporation? Conservatives don't even understand their own ideology - especially when confronted with facts on how it fails in the real world.
#20. To: Godwinson (#16) Who is going to force the private business to hire Americans? The Govt? You are now all in favor of govt intervention in the business affairs of a corporation? Don't be an idiot..it was the goo-goos at the State Dept. who created this worker exchange program. It needs to be shut down.
#27. To: Thunderbird (#20) Don't be an idiot..it was the goo-goos at the State Dept. who created this worker exchange program. It needs to be shut down. At the behest of corporate lobbyists.
#34. To: mininggold (#27) At the behest of corporate lobbyists. Which may be true.. but clearly the program is taking jobs away from Americans. Lets shut the program down and find out who squeals.
#37. To: Thunderbird (#34) Which may be true.. but clearly the program is taking jobs away from Americans. Would the program be taking jobs away from Americans if hiring companies were required to pay American wages?
#40. To: lucysmom, Thunderbird, go65 (#37) Would the program be taking jobs away from Americans if hiring companies were required to pay American wages? If conservatives supported minimum wage rights for all and unionized work places, these students would be making the same wages as everyone else or not be employed. But conservatives are not for such things so here we are....
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