Foreign students walk off Hershey’s factory job in protest

[Gold Metal Flake]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/foreign-students-walk-off-hershey-factory-job-protest-214310205.html

snip...
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.

[Tx4obama]

1. Well that frees up 400 jobs for the residents of Pennsylvania to appy for. n/t

[TwilightGardener]

2. I've never heard of this J-1 program, but now I know why most of the

young workers at Wall Drug in South Dakota looked and sounded Russian and Polish.

[Retrograde]

3. So there aren't any people around Hershey who need jobs?

There aren't any students or young people who are US citizens who would like to work at a resort during the summer? Looks like the J-1 program is being more abused than even the HB-1 visa program.

[jwirr]

5. The owners who use these kids do not care if there are Americans

who want the jobs. They are hiring these kids - bringing them over here, housing them while charging enough rent, etc. so that the kids are making almost nothing. This program should be stopped all together as it is a virtual slave market for employers.

[Gold Metal Flake]

6. Now more than ever I feel it's just a matter of time...

...before someone uncovers a factory on the American mainland that has gone full Saipan.

[jwirr]

7. These type of programs come very close to it. Decency does not

seem to be a part of business anymore. From the grocery store in our home town during the depression that gave credit to the neo-slave owners of today. We've come a long way baby! NOT.

[treestar]

13. It's an exchange program for young people

Americans can work abroad in exchange.

[jwirr]

4. Good, in our community we helped the kids by getting them other

jobs and housing and help to get back home. Our hotel owner never tried to import labor again. We let them know that we would not stand for it but we did not hurt the kids who had been suckered into thinking this was like a class they were to take in the USA.

[mysuzuki2]

8. I support programs like this one that allow students from other countries

to come to America and learn about life in our country. What they have learned through this experience is that American workers get screwed. Valuable lesson.

[indurancevile]

9. An Exel spokeswoman said the company was working with SHS Staffing Solutions of Lemoyne, Pa.,

http://mybrightmountain.com/newsarticle.aspx?storyid=162554233

Wow, two corporations taking a cut off their labor, plus whoever was renting to them plus the Council for Educational Travel USA, a nonprofit based in San Clemente, Calif., which had them pay fees to get here & accuses the students of being paid protesters.

And they're not from Western Europe, they're from Eastern (poor, no social safety net) Europe & Asia:
China, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and Romania.


Exel is a global labor company:


Financials

Annual revenue
$4.2 billion

Ownership
Exel is a wholly owned entity of Deutsche Post DHL, the world's leading logistics group.

Headquarters
Exel
570 Polaris Parkway
Westerville, Ohio 43082
U.S.A.
877-272-1054

We're the leading contract logistics provider in the Americas thanks to the hard work of 40,000 associates at more than 500 sites throughout the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. Together we generate more than $4.2 billion in annual revenues.

How do we do it? By providing innovative, customized supply chain solutions and third-party logistics to some of the world's best-known and most successful companies. Our supply chain design, consulting, warehousing, fulfillment, and transportation services help companies be more productive, more efficient and more competitive. In all cases, our customer is at the center of everything we do — from initial situation analysis to the continuous improvement programs that help deliver better results every day.

Exel is part of the SUPPLY CHAIN division of Deutsche Post DHL, the world's leading logistics group, with more than 300,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories around the world and 2009 annual revenues of more than 46 billion euros.


http://www.exel.com/exel/exel_about_exel.jsp


SHS Staffing Solutions:

Type
Partnership
Company Size
11-50 employees
Website
http://www.theshsgroup.com
Industry
Staffing and Recruiting
Founded
1969


SHS has redefined performance and return on contingent staffing investment. We combined industry-innovating approaches with 40 years of experience to deliver exceptional, high return, and sustainable value for our client companies and applicant candidates. SHS's approach, unique to our industry, has yielded valued, long-term relationships with clients and applicants.

We assist our client companies with a wide range of solutions to gain competitive advantage with their human capital investment. Innovative staffing, acquiring superior talent, hiring and performance advisory, and wide ranging education and training in high value knowledge areas yield our clients an increasing return on their human capital investments.

Corporate Headquarters:

4 Lemoyne Drive
Suite 100
Lemoyne, PA 17043
1-877-SHS-0001

http://www.linkedin.com/company/the-shs-group-lp


council for educational travel looks like a labor recruitment agency posing as a "non-profit":

Council for Educational Travel, U.S.A. (CETUSA) is a non-profit, global exchange organization dedicated to helping people from different cultures develop more compassion and understanding for one another.

Since 1995, together with international partners and academic institutions from over 50 countries, CETUSA has helped tens of thousands of students, families, young professionals and employers benefit from the integration of diverse cultures. Our programs provide a unique opportunity to share the experiences of daily living, education and professional life. CETUSA programs help to improve mutual understanding and communication between people in the United States and other nations of the world.

Member of the CET Management Group:

CET Management (UK) Ltd - Company Registration No. (England and Wales): 03423974
Registered Office - 53 - 55 Ballards Lane, London N3 1XP

Meet your staffing needs with enthusiastic, dedicated, international personnel!

CETUSA is pleased to offer you two unique programs from which your company and your team can benefit in many ways.

Whether you are looking for one employee or a hundred, CETUSA has the right solution for you. CETUSA programs not only take the hassle out of searching for seasonal employees, but also allow you to diversify your staff with the addition of multicultural individuals. Our programs bring your company well educated, talented and ambitious young personnel keen to achieve success.

http://www.cetusa.org/public/provides-employees


What a freaking scam.

[Gold Metal Flake]

10. Thanks for your post!

You have to starve the workers to allow all of those other firms to take their profits. (And yes Council for Educational Travel USA is a non-profit but those at the top of it take theirs. They ain't working for free)

It is indeed a scam.




Edit: I left out at least one r.

[indurancevile]

11. Nothing personal, but people need to get over automatically identifying "non-profit"

with "good" or "makes no money".

Non-profits are big business these days, & they're making bank. They just distribute the cash differently than for-profits.

[indurancevile]

12. kick