Hundreds of foreign
student workers in Pennsylvania walked off the job and demonstrated
Aug. 17 and 18 protesting low wages and mistreatment at the hands of
U.S. companies subcontracted by Hershey Company. The workers
converged on a Hershey facility
demanding higher pay, better working conditions, and a general
respect for their efforts.
A sign held by a
demonstrator read, “We don’t want to be slaves.”
The students got
help from the National Guestworker Alliance, a New Orleans-based
organization that had been contacted by student organizers a month
earlier. Jacob Horwitz, the local organizer of the group stated,
“Hundreds of J1 workers still on strike demand that Hershey …
come to the table, pay them their money back and give these jobs to
local workers but make them living-wage jobs.”
The student workers
at the facility package Hershey candy. They came mostly from Europe
and Asia to spend their summer in the United States working under J1
visas. A J1 visa allows foreign students to spend a short time in the
U.S. in order to learn about American culture and values in exchange
for their labor.
These students,
part of a State Department exchange program, have been taught a harsh
lesson regarding a predominant U.S. cultural value—capitalist
greed. The J1 system has become a tool for American businesses to
procure captive, inexpensive foreign labor for exploitation. The
students are expected to pay all of their travel, housing, and
cost-of-living expenses, and they are rewarded with very hard work
and a low wage.
The money received
from working in America barely covers the costs—typically $3,000 to
$6,000—of a summer ordeal many would soon like to forget. The
cultural experience the students were promised is a lie.
Yana Brenzey, a
19-year-old from the Ukraine, reported: “Working hard, eight hours,
we have no opportunity to speak at work. If I speak, my supervisor
comes to me and says, ‘Don’t speak anymore, or I’ll send you home.”
Any attempts by the
students to improve their situation were met with callous opposition
from management. One manager told John Bilan, a 22-year-old from
Romania: “They say you have the contract. You signed the contract.
You need to respect it.”
An official with
the Council for Educational Travel USA, which arranged the “cultural
exchange,” told the students that “if they tried to organize or
went on strike, they would be fired.”
Lacking any hope of
change, these courageous students took matters into their own hands
and demanded to be treated like human beings. Their action epitomizes
international solidarity. They could have served their time, stayed
“out of trouble,” and quietly returned to their home countries.
Instead, they not only stood up for themselves but also stood up for
all American workers. These young adults have learned that while some
workers are oppressed, all workers are oppressed.
