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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 # 61. 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?
#39. To: lucysmom (#37) Would the program be taking jobs away from Americans if hiring companies were required to pay American wages? We don't need to import foreigners to do shift work at the chocolate plant. Period. Frankly I'm surprised the union locals siding with the students haven't figured this out yet.
#42. To: Thunderbird, lucysmom (#39) Frankly I'm surprised the union locals siding with the students haven't figured this out yet. Conservatives have broken the backs of unions. Now you lament the weak power of unions to right work place wrongs. Will conservative contradictions never cease?
#46. To: Godwinson (#42) Will conservative contradictions never cease? Speaking of contradictions...do you agree the government sponsored J1 work/travel summer program is taking jobs away from Americans and should be shut down? A simple yes or no would suffice...
#49. To: Thunderbird, lucysmom (#46) Speaking of contradictions...do you agree the government sponsored J1 work/travel summer program is taking jobs away from Americans and should be shut down? I would not have a problem if the jobs offered paid the same wages as American jobs. If they are in the country legally then I don't have a problem. I have a problem with UNREGULATED businesses exploiting people.
#51. To: Godwinson (#49) I have a problem with UNREGULATED businesses exploiting people. Then you are looking in the wrong place. If these kids were exploited, it wasn't by the corporation whose plant they worked in.
#53. To: Thunderbird (#51) Then you are looking in the wrong place. If these kids were exploited, it wasn't by the corporation whose plant they worked in. The buck stops with Hershey.
#55. To: mininggold (#53) The buck stops with Hershey. Nonsense. Hershey is not responsible for these foreigners "feelings", something their sponsoring organization acknowleges even if you bleeding hearts won't. Hershey didn't bring these spoiled brats into this country and they didn't make them any promises they couldn't keep. If anyone should be investigated it is the 'procuring' companies who lure these teens into the program and their willing accomplices at DoS.
#56. To: Thunderbird, mininggold, war (#55) If anyone should be investigated it is the 'procuring' companies who lure these teens into the program and their willing accomplices at DoS. Using that logic. It's not the strip club that is responsible for the enslaved sex workers but rather the pimps that brought them to the club to dance......
#57. To: Godwinson (#56) Using that logic. It's not the strip club that is responsible for the enslaved sex workers but rather the pimps that brought them to the club to dance...... Poorly drawn analogies aside..Hershey wanted some temporary workers to help out during the summer. They engaged a staffing company and paid them to provide some workers. The staffing company in turn was working with some student worker organization to bring this spoiled euro-trash into the United states. Hershey doesn't control who the staffing company sends them nor do they pay the kids directly. There aren't any known OSHA violations at the Hershey warehouse, and the kids worked a straight 40 hour week. The kids are "upset" because they thought it was going to be more "fun", not because of any poor working conditions. The sooner the little shits are sent home the better.
#58. To: Thunderbird (#57) Hershey wanted some temporary workers to help out during the summer. So that/those plant[s] only operate[s] in the Summer?
#59. To: war (#58) So that/those plant[s] only operate[s] in the Summer? No..they likely add production capacity in the summer to keep their stores stocked during tourist season and in preperation for the big candy selling fall season. If Obama wants to "do something" about jobs he should direct the state department to stop issuing these J1 work/travel visas until the economy is back on its feet.
#60. To: Thunderbird (#59) If Obama wants to "do something" about jobs he should direct the state department to stop issuing these J1 work/travel visas until the economy is back on its feet. How does that stop the fact that Hershey exploited workers?
#61. To: war (#60) Hershey didn't 'exploit' the workers..it is a baseless assertion. If anything the workers 'exploited' Hershey by protesting in front of their main retail outlet at the height of tourist season. It wouldn't surprise me if Hershey sues the stafffing company that hired these foreign "students" as well as that sleazy procurement outfit CETUSA.
Replies to Comment # 61. Hershey didn't 'exploit' the workers..it is a baseless assertion. Hershey doesn't own and operate that plant?
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