By: Daniel Nardini
As hundreds of cultural exchange students remain on strike in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the main fight is over the abuse by institutions and corporations of the J-1 Visa. The J-1 Visa essentially grants a student the right to be able to come into the United States and either work or study so that they can experience America. The point of the visa is for the exchange student to get a real cultural experience of this country and its people. Because of this young people from all over the world—from South America and Europe and Asia to Africa—pay a lot of money to come here. Theoretically that is supposed to be the case.
But an increasing number of businesses are using this visa to not only make students work but do heavy, non-union work and get paid little while deducting “fees” for their food and lodgings. These poor students not only do not get to see the United States but are forced to do back-breaking work at virtually no cost to the companies. One such company that is clearly abusing this is Hershey’s. The Hershey’s corporation is paying these young people $8.00 an hour with no benefits and no over-time. Meanwhile, local people, who used to work at Hershey’s for $18.00 to $19.00 an hour, have been thrown out of work so that Hershey’s can exploit these young people.
These young people became fed-up with being treated like virtual company slaves and finally walked off and began a strike. Even though they have numbers and even though they have the full support of unions like the Service Employers International Union, they do not have the funds to keep on going—especially when they have to pay for their own food and utilities. Some unions are calling for a boycott of Hershey’s chocolate to hit the company in the pocketbook. Whether such a boycott will work remains to be seen. All I know is that Hershey’s has the money on its side.
The students want to return these factory jobs to the local town people of Hershey’s—they never wanted these jobs in the first place. But Hershey’s will not so easily give-up on s good thing like exploiting J-1Visa holders to do the work for virtually nothing. And that is the issue. It is not just a single labor issue. It is an issue of using imported virtually free labor at the expense of American workers who are thrown out of their jobs because big corporations like Hershey’s do not want to pay good wages. if Hershey’s wins this one then other corporations and institutions will simply use J-1 Visa holders as imported labor. So these young peoples’ fight is our fight. At a time when almost ten percent of all Americans are out of work, to let the corporations use virtually free imported labor is an affront to American workers and indeed the entire world.
J-1 Visa Slavery
By: Daniel Nardini
But an increasing number of businesses are using this visa to not only make students work but do heavy, non-union work and get paid little while deducting “fees” for their food and lodgings. These poor students not only do not get to see the United States but are forced to do back-breaking work at virtually no cost to the companies. One such company that is clearly abusing this is Hershey’s. The Hershey’s corporation is paying these young people $8.00 an hour with no benefits and no over-time. Meanwhile, local people, who used to work at Hershey’s for $18.00 to $19.00 an hour, have been thrown out of work so that Hershey’s can exploit these young people.
These young people became fed-up with being treated like virtual company slaves and finally walked off and began a strike. Even though they have numbers and even though they have the full support of unions like the Service Employers International Union, they do not have the funds to keep on going—especially when they have to pay for their own food and utilities. Some unions are calling for a boycott of Hershey’s chocolate to hit the company in the pocketbook. Whether such a boycott will work remains to be seen. All I know is that Hershey’s has the money on its side.
The students want to return these factory jobs to the local town people of Hershey’s—they never wanted these jobs in the first place. But Hershey’s will not so easily give-up on s good thing like exploiting J-1Visa holders to do the work for virtually nothing. And that is the issue. It is not just a single labor issue. It is an issue of using imported virtually free labor at the expense of American workers who are thrown out of their jobs because big corporations like Hershey’s do not want to pay good wages. if Hershey’s wins this one then other corporations and institutions will simply use J-1 Visa holders as imported labor. So these young peoples’ fight is our fight. At a time when almost ten percent of all Americans are out of work, to let the corporations use virtually free imported labor is an affront to American workers and indeed the entire world.