• Home
  • Today
  • Advocacy
  • Forum
Donate
  • login
  • register
Home

They need you!

Forum links

  • Recent changes
  • Member list
  • Search
  • Register
Search Forums
 
Advanced Search
Go to Page...

Resources

  • Do I qualify?
  • In-state tuition
  • FAQ
  • Ways to legalize
  • Feedback
  • Contact us

Join our list

National calendar of events

«  

July

  »
S M T W T F S
 
 
1
 
2
 
3
 
4
 
5
 
6
 
7
 
8
 
9
 
10
 
11
 
12
 
13
 
14
 
15
 
16
 
17
 
18
 
19
 
20
 
21
 
22
 
23
 
24
 
25
 
26
 
27
 
28
 
29
 
30
 
31
 
 
 
Sync with this calendar
DAP Forums > Other Topics > Other Topics

Foreign students walk off Hershey’s factory job in protest

  • View
  • Post new reply
  • Thread tools
    Thread Tools
    Show Printable Version Show Printable Version
    Email this Page Email this Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • next ›
#1
08-18-2011, 10:48 PM
Senior Member
Joined in Aug 2010
828 posts
Alex QA's Avatar
Alex QA
Alex QA
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Alex QA
Find all posts by Alex QA
0 AP
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...214310205.html

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 makes 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.
__________________
*Date Application Sent - 8/27/12
*Date Application Delivered - 8/28/12 USPS EXPRESS (Vermont center)
Acceptance Notice - 08/31/12
I-797 - 09/04/12 || Biometrics Date - 10/04/12 (walk in 9/12/12)

EAD Approved: 9/21/12 || EAD received: 09/27/12
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#2
08-18-2011, 10:50 PM
Senior Member
Joined in Aug 2010
828 posts
Alex QA's Avatar
Alex QA
Alex QA
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Alex QA
Find all posts by Alex QA
0 AP
The more the media exposes the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services for their fuck ups like this story the better it is for us, just be patient guys something is bound to happen
__________________
*Date Application Sent - 8/27/12
*Date Application Delivered - 8/28/12 USPS EXPRESS (Vermont center)
Acceptance Notice - 08/31/12
I-797 - 09/04/12 || Biometrics Date - 10/04/12 (walk in 9/12/12)

EAD Approved: 9/21/12 || EAD received: 09/27/12
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#3
08-19-2011, 01:33 AM
Moderator
From Illinois/Florida
Joined in Jul 2009
2,219 posts
buckminsterfullerene's Avatar
buckminsterfullerene
buckminsterfullerene
View Public Profile
Send a private message to buckminsterfullerene
Find all posts by buckminsterfullerene
270 AP


and there is video available

It is not limited to Hershey's, I know personally that other major corporations employ the exact same tactics, however, calling this cultural exchange and making them work for less than it costs them to come here in the first place is really really ugly. They are basically treating people as slaves. They force them to pay their way in the US, than they pay them next to nothing and barely livable wages which they need to use to support themselves, and if they complain they are fired and ICE ensures they are out of sight in another country.
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#4
08-19-2011, 02:06 AM
Senior Member
From California
Joined in Jan 2009
1,438 posts
Dreamer X's Avatar
Dreamer X
Dreamer X
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Dreamer X
Find all posts by Dreamer X
0 AP
money hungry corporations
__________________
"I shall seize Fate by the throat; it shall certainly not bend and crush me completely" -Ludwig von Beethoven
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#5
08-19-2011, 05:44 AM
BANNED
Joined in May 2011
102 posts
mrhochan
mrhochan
View Public Profile
Find all posts by mrhochan
0 AP
AMERICAN ALWAYS take advantage of other countries...
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#6
08-19-2011, 10:14 AM
Senior Member
From California
Joined in Jan 2009
1,438 posts
Dreamer X's Avatar
Dreamer X
Dreamer X
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Dreamer X
Find all posts by Dreamer X
0 AP
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrhochan View Post
AMERICAN ALWAYS take advantage of other countries...
Dude how old were you when you got to this country?
__________________
"I shall seize Fate by the throat; it shall certainly not bend and crush me completely" -Ludwig von Beethoven
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#7
08-19-2011, 02:31 PM
Senior Member
Joined in Dec 2010
121 posts
LostInMyDream
LostInMyDream
View Public Profile
Send a private message to LostInMyDream
Find all posts by LostInMyDream
0 AP
UGH... self pity much? these Hershey's students need to get with the program! What do they expect... we all come here and make sacrifices, in one way or another, and tho, yes they maybe treated unfairly, the need to step back and realize how good they have it... gurl if it's soooo bad and you don't feel like struggling then why bother coming out here.... I for one don't mind the struggle (tho it gets over baring at times)... I want to be here, make something of myself, and if that means bust my ass to do so, I will. Take every opportunity that life hands you as if it were the last!

(just my opinion, no offense)
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#8
08-19-2011, 02:59 PM
Moderator
From Illinois/Florida
Joined in Jul 2009
2,219 posts
buckminsterfullerene's Avatar
buckminsterfullerene
buckminsterfullerene
View Public Profile
Send a private message to buckminsterfullerene
Find all posts by buckminsterfullerene
270 AP
Quote:
Originally Posted by LostInMyDream View Post
UGH... self pity much? these Hershey's students need to get with the program! What do they expect... we all come here and make sacrifices, in one way or another, and tho, yes they maybe treated unfairly, the need to step back and realize how good they have it... gurl if it's soooo bad and you don't feel like struggling then why bother coming out here.... I for one don't mind the struggle (tho it gets over baring at times)... I want to be here, make something of myself, and if that means bust my ass to do so, I will. Take every opportunity that life hands you as if it were the last!

(just my opinion, no offense)
The thing is that they marketed this as a cultural exchange program, it was not intended to be a long term thing, only a few months and they paid to get into this program for experience with the companies only to work in a warehouse and at the end of the program they have to leave, they do not get to stay.

It was deceit, they did not expect this they expected experience, but how is a medical student going to use stacking boxes of chocolate for three months as experience?
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#9
08-19-2011, 03:08 PM
Senior Member
Joined in Dec 2010
121 posts
LostInMyDream
LostInMyDream
View Public Profile
Send a private message to LostInMyDream
Find all posts by LostInMyDream
0 AP
Quote:
Originally Posted by buckminsterfullerene View Post
The thing is that they marketed this as a cultural exchange program, it was not intended to be a long term thing, only a few months and they paid to get into this program for experience with the companies only to work in a warehouse and at the end of the program they have to leave, they do not get to stay.

It was deceit, they did not expect this they expected experience, but how is a medical student going to use stacking boxes of chocolate for three months as experience?


"how is a medical student going to use stacking boxes of chocolate for three months as experience?"... I mean common really... you should know that if a chocolate company is recruiting you, that it will have nothing to do with the medical field... take from it what you can... you're in a different country doing labor work... but they're not confined to their homes after work... they still get to enjoy America on there spare time, that's something that they would otherwise not have experienced.... in my opinion its not a bad thing... just don't have high hopes and make of it what you wan it to be.
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
#10
08-19-2011, 04:39 PM
Senior Member
Joined in Apr 2009
2,582 posts
Ali
Ali
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Ali
Find all posts by Ali
0 AP
Quote:
Originally Posted by LostInMyDream View Post
"how is a medical student going to use stacking boxes of chocolate for three months as experience?"... I mean common really... you should know that if a chocolate company is recruiting you, that it will have nothing to do with the medical field... take from it what you can... you're in a different country doing labor work... but they're not confined to their homes after work... they still get to enjoy America on there spare time, that's something that they would otherwise not have experienced.... in my opinion its not a bad thing... just don't have high hopes and make of it what you wan it to be.
hard to enjoy the experience on 130$ left over you gotta save up to settle a debt. What I don't get is why they stuck around in the housing after they saw their first pay check (unless they signed some binding contract).

Shame that they weren't informed of how things would be, but this does come off as some fucked up fraudulent visa scheme by a hershey/intermediary coalition.

On the flip side, I imagine that if I were the unions I'd hire some rowdy immigrants to take part in this visa program and then expose the BS Hershey is pulling. This would revoke the program altogether and force Hershey to hire citizens. No way in hell they'd settle for the 8.30$ (example is that guy that ''hasn't worked in years'') an hour these guys are paying however, and Hershey would then have to raise wages.
__________________
♠♣IllegalBrahs Crew♠♣
''I'm developing a social network where people call each other on the phone & then see each other in person. ~~ Chris Rock''
  • Reply With Quote
Post your reply or quote more messages.
  • 1
  • 2
  • next ›


« Previous Thread | Next Thread »


Contact Us - DREAM Act Portal - Archive - Top
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.