Foreign workers for Hershey protest Pa. conditions

Associated Press ^ | Thursday, August 18, 2011 6:50 PM EDT | MARK SCOLFORO

[Hunton Peck]

HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) — Foreign students working at a candy warehouse protested 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 State Department said it was investigating.

More than 100 students gathered in touristy downtown Hershey, home to the nation'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....

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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, Calif., 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."

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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.

[Graybeard58]

The students earn about $8 an hour, the same as their American counterparts, and were fully informed about the nature of the work

Are they not allowed to quit if they don't like it?

[Hunton Peck]

As far as I can tell, it’s only Islam and the Mob from which attempted departure is routinely fatal. Maybe the AFL-CIO guy who put them up to this told them that’s whom they were working for.

[KarlInOhio]

So do they have student visas or work visas? You aren't supposed to work on a student visa unless it is part of a cooperative education program (work at the university might be excepted). There was a Belorussian student doing some of the grunt computer work for us (setting up PCs, doing backups, etc). We wanted him to work more hours, but there were limits because of the co-op program.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

They should thank God they don’t work for non-union Nestle-Poland Spring like I did 15 years ago who would demand we work for free. “The guy doing the delivery route next to you is on vacation so you do his route as well, work that extra 12 hours for free so CEO Kim Jefferys can get his 7 figure bonus” and meanwhile I was taking home $400 a week for 22 hours work a day 6 days a week, and if I didn’t like it the told me to quit. We finally took them to court and won a class action for OT in which the lawyer took most of it and I went home with $800.