Hershey Foreign Workers Protest with Union Support

Foreign Student-workers Protest in Hershey

August 18, 2011

LDNews.com - More than 200 foreign college students working for the summer packaging Hershey candy took to the streets Wednesday to protest their working conditions.

The protest began about 2 p.m. with a sit-in at The Hershey Company-affiliated warehouse in North Londonderry Township, which forced production to be shut down. It concluded four hours later after the protesters were bused to downtown Hershey, where they demonstrated in front of The Hershey Story museum.

The students, who come from countries in Europe and Asia, are employees of SHS Online Solutions, which was subcontracted to operate the warehouse for Exel, an Ohio-based company contracted by The Hershey Company to manage the warehouse.

To meet peak demand, SHS works with an organization that provides foreign guestworkers as part of a global cultural exchange program, according to an Exel spokeswoman. Under the arrangement, the students spent between $3,000 and $6,000 to come to the United States in exchange for the opportunity to immerse themselves in American culture by working in a job for three months.

Instead, the protesters claim, their minimum-wage factory jobs barely cover the rent for the small apartments they share two to a room, leaving little money or time leftover to enjoy the American experience.

They also claim their exploitation is a result of The Hershey Company's effort to arrange for cheap labor instead of providing life-sustaining wages to local workers. The students demanded The Hershey Company compensate the guestworkers by paying for their travel expenses and called for returning good paying jobs to local residents.

Wednesday's demonstration was organized with help from representatives of the National Guestworker Alliance. The New Orleans-based organization was contacted by student organizers about a month ago, said Director Saket Soni.

"They came here primarily to participate in the culture as part of an exchange program and ended up being captive workers," he said. "The Hershey Company should be providing living-wage jobs for local workers and not bringing foreign guestworkers here as cheap labor."

In all, about 400 foreign students were hired by SHS, said Soni. One student organizer from China said about 220 of the student workers signed a petition in support of the protest, but the others were too afraid.

"Some didn't want to sign because if they do this next time and come to America and ask for a visa, there may be some problems," said Peter Zhouyuz.

There was a party-like atmosphere among the demonstrators as they marched on the sidewalks of Chocolate Avenue, despite being under the watchful eye of a large contingent of police officers, including some on horseback and others with dogs.

Joining the students were members of the Chocolate Workers Union, AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union. Shouts of "Shame on you Hershey" and "We are power. We are strong. Who are we? J1 students" filled the air as rush-hour traffic crept by the demonstration in front of the museum.

J1 refers to the type of visas the students received to enter the country.

Student leaders, most speaking English, took turns addressing the crowd, each one with a story of how their dream of spending a fulfilling summer in America turned into months of factory labor.

A spokesman for The Hershey Company distanced the company from the dispute by putting out this one sentence statement to the media:

"The Hershey Company expects all of its vendors to treat their employees fairly and equitably."

Lynn Anderson, a spokeswoman for Exel, said the company has contracted with SHS Online Solutions to staff and operate the Hershey candy warehouse for several years. The company arranges with the Council for Educational Travel USA, or CETUSA, for the student guestworkers, she said. Efforts to reach representatives of SHS Online Solutions' office in Lemoyne after business hours were unsuccessful.

Rick Anaya, CEO and founder of CETUSA, said from the company's California headquarters that this was the first time students have waged a protest in the 20 years he has been arranging the foreign exchanges. He blamed the unrest on the labor organizations working with the students and said he sent a company representative to meet with the students after learning about their dissatisfaction two weeks ago. The meetings were not productive, he said.

"The problem is the people working in the background are promising these kids thousands of dollars if they sign and protest," he said.

The students plan to remain on strike until their demands are met, but to do so could be risking deportation under the terms of their contracts.

Foreign Students Walk Off Hershey’s Factory Job in Protest

August 18, 2011

Associated Press - Hundreds of foreign students on a State Department cultural exchange visa program walked off their factory jobs in protest on Wednesday.

The J-1 visa program brings foreign students to the country to work for two months and learn English, and was designed in part to fill seasonal tourism jobs at resorts and seaside towns. The 400 students employed at a Pennsylvania factory that packages Hershey's candies told The New York Times that even though they make $8.35 an hour, their rent and program fees are deducted from their paychecks, leaving them with less money than they spent to get the visas and travel to the country in the first place.

Some of the students were assigned night shifts, and said they were pressured to work faster and faster on the factory lines.

Hershey's said they didn't hire the students when the Times asked:

A spokesman for Hershey's, Kirk Saville, said the chocolate company did not directly operate the Palmyra packing plant, which is managed by a company called Exel. A spokeswoman for Exel said it had found the student workers through another staffing company.

Last December, the AP revealed that federal immigration officials were investigating two human-trafficking abuse cases related to J-1 visas. Strip clubs openly solicited J-1 visa holders in job listings, and some foreign students told the AP they were forced into sexual slavery when their passports were confiscated by a ring of criminals. About 150,000 J-1 visas were given out in 2008. Businesses save about 8 percent by using a foreign worker because of Social Security and other taxes they do not have to pay.

Foreign Student Workers Protest At Hershey Plant - Video - WGAL The Susquehanna Valley

Foreign Workers for Hershey Protest U.S. Conditions

August 18, 2011

Associated Press - Foreign students working at a candy warehouse protested job conditions and pay Thursday, chanting on Chocolate Avenue under streetlights shaped like Hershey's Kisses, arguing that they were employed under the guise of a cultural exchange but toil away in what amounts to a sweets sweatshop.

The U.S. State Department said it was investigating.

More than 100 students gathered in touristy downtown Hershey, home to America's second-largest candy maker, complaining of hard physical labor, steep pay deductions for rent that often left them with little spending money, and no cultural enrichment. They said their concerns were met with threats of deportation.

"We have no money, we have no time and we have no power," said Yana Brenzey, a 19-year-old journalism student from Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine.

She said she had no idea that she would be lifting 40-pound (18-kilogram) boxes or pocketing only about $200 a week when she began working in early May at the warehouse run by Westerville, Ohio-based Exel Inc.

A spokesman for the Hershey Co. would say only that the corporation expects its vendors to treat employees "fairly and equitably." An Exel spokeswoman said the company was working with SHS Staffing Solutions of Lemoyne, Pennsylvania, which helped place the students, to resolve the situation. Late Thursday, Exel issued a statement saying it would stop using student workers once the current group leaves in mid-September.

The students earn about $8 an hour, the same as their American counterparts, and were fully informed about the nature of the work, SHS spokesman Sean Connolly said. The company does not intend to fire the students for their protest, he said.

"We continue to discuss the concerns they have," Connolly said. "We hope there's a resolution."

The leader of the Council for Educational Travel USA, a nonprofit based in San Clemente, California, that also helped place the students, asserted that their motives weren't entirely pure.

"Somebody has been circulating a letter that they will get several thousand dollars back if they protest and be a part of this movement," said CEO Rick Anaya. "We have not gotten any cooperation from the kids. Somebody is promising them a lot of money in order to participate in this protest."

He acknowledged that the jobs are "fast-paced" and involve heavy lifting, but he said the students knew what they would be doing. He said he became aware of complaints two weeks ago and sent managers to Pennsylvania to work out differences.

The students were offered the opportunity to leave the job if they were unhappy, he said.

They are among more than 100,000 college students who come to the U.S. each year on J-1 visas, which supply resorts and other businesses with cheap seasonal labor as part of a program aimed at fostering cultural understanding.

An Associated Press investigation published in December found students who were forced to work in strip clubs instead of restaurants, others taking home $1 an hour or even less, some living in crowded apartments or eating on floors. Members of Congress have expressed concern about misuse of the program.

The State Department is sending staff to Pennsylvania to investigate.

"The Department of State takes its responsibilities for administering the J-1 Visa Program seriously," spokesman Mark Toner said. "It is our responsibility to ensure that all J-1 visa participants are accorded their rights under all provisions of the Summer Work Travel program."

Yilmazcan Cebe, a 20-year-old civil engineering student from Ankara, Turkey, said that his complaints were met with threats to force him to pay the remainder of his housing costs and that he might be barred from returning to the United States.

Student protesters also came from China, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland and Romania. They said their goals were to have all the companies related to their employment negotiate on repaying them and converting their jobs to living-wage positions.

The walkout is in its second day. On Wednesday, about 150 people picketed outside the warehouse several miles (kilometers) away in a protest organized by the National Guestworker Alliance. Three people were arrested: Pennsylvania AFL-CIO president Rick Bloomingdale and two other organized labor officials.

On Thursday, the students protested with a bullhorn, leaflets and a petition they planned to present to Hershey executives.

"All we can do is work and sleep," said Godwin Efobi, 26, a Ukrainian student originally from Nigeria.

Most students showed up for the first shift Thursday, and the walkout isn't disrupting warehouse activities, Exel spokeswoman Lynn Anderson said.

The complaints began this year with two students from Central America who went to the state AFL-CIO, which referred the matter to the national office and the New Orleans-based National Guestworker Alliance, Bloomingdale said.

One foreign worker, he said, showed him a paycheck for 32 hours — at $8.35 an hour — that amounted to just $44 after state and local taxes and deductions for rent.

"I'm shocked that all of this is happening in modern-day America," Bloomingdale said. "These are 400 warehouse jobs, packing jobs."

Danielle Grijalva, director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, an advocacy group in Oceanside, California, said the problems faced by the workers at the chocolate plant are not unique. Similar complaints have been made for years across the country, and the State Department has not done enough to fix the J-1 program, she said.

"People are leaving our country hating America, hating Americans," she said. "If this is the impression of the United States that we want these students to have, then perhaps we should thank the State Department, because they are not implementing regulations to protect these students."