Hundreds of foreign exchange students paid $3,000-$6,000 each to come to the U.S. this summer for what they thought would be a cultural exchange program to learn English and experience American culture. Instead, they found themselves working in deeply exploitative conditions packing chocolates at Hershey’s plant in Pennsylvania for low wages. They are forced to work in back-breaking conditions and round-the-clock in production lines. When the students complained, Hershey’s threatened to have them deported.
Now the exchange students are fighting back. On August 17, hundreds of student guestworkers from around the world were joined by unemployed U.S. workers and labor leaders in a factory sit-in at the Hershey Chocolate Company packing plant in Pennsylvania. They walked out of the Hershey’s plant and into the streets to protest the abusive conditions and to demand big changes to Hershey’s deceptive “cultural exchange” program. And they’ve teamed up with the National Guestworker Alliance to start a petition demanding that Hershey’s compensate the exchange students, and turn their work into good jobs for local workers. Visit http://www.change.org/petitions/hershey-stop-exploiting-student-guestworkers to add your name to the petition.
Yana, a 19-year-old girl from Ukraine, lifts boxes that weigh 40 pounds — nearly half her weight. Peng, a 21-year-old economics student from China, also lifts heavy boxes during his eight-hour shifts at the warehouse.
Hundreds of students from Ghana, Turkey, Mongolia, and other countries each paid up to $6,000 for the privilege to come to America in a cultural exchange program this summer. Now Hershey’s pays them around $8 an hour for their warehouse work, minus costs of housing — leaving many students broke, tired, and disillusioned.
Why would Hershey’s want to use foreign exchange students as cheap, manual labor? According to the National Guestworker Alliance, a group helping the students, it’s about profit. Hershey’s is laying off 500 American workers in the next year. The company’s strategy is apparently paying off: Hershey’s pocketed $130 million in just the last three months.
The foreign exchange students are asking Hershey to refund the thousands of dollars the students paid to come to America. And that’s not all: The students also want Hershey’s to convert their low-paying positions to living wage jobs for local residents in Pennsylvania.
This is important because their demands ends the exploitation of student workers at the Hershey’s plant, returns the money they paid for a cultural exchange, and makes these jobs living wage jobs for local Pennsylvania workers.
Please sign the petition to Hershey’s demanding the company refund the students’ costs to come to America and give their jobs back to American workers who live near the warehouse.
To learn more about the situation and to sign the petition, visit http://www.change.org/petitions/hershey-stop-exploiting-student-guestworkers
Thanks for being a change-maker,
The Change.org team
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