Foreign Youth Give American Workers Lesson in Solidarity
The strike at Hershey by 300 foreign students here on J-1 work-study visas has been going on for two weeks now. According to Democracy Now, it is the first time that foreign students have engaged in a strike against their employer. Federal agencies have begun four separate investigations into the allegations of exploitation.
The students are now demanding that they be refunded the $3,000 to $6,000 they paid for the cultural exchange program (and the right to be exploited by Hershey) and that their jobs be given to local workers at a living wage.
The students came mostly from Eastern Europe and Asia. The fees they paid were supposedly to allow them to participate in a cultural exchange program. Instead, they became slaves of the Hershey Corporation. They were forced to do heavy lifting and work from 11:00 pm until 7:00