J-1 student guest workers protest working conditions (Justice at Hershey's), United States, 2011

In 1961 the United States government created the J-1 exchange visa program that allows for people, including students from other countries, to visit the USA for cultural immersion and work-study. In what is typically a four-month program, thousands of students come to the USA and go to work in jobs provided for them by contractors of the visa program. The program has been critiqued in the past for failing to provide adequate cultural immersion and for using contractors that provide visa holders with poor work placement.

In June of 2011, some 400 students from all over the world were sent to work at a Hershey’s packing plant in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. These guest worker jobs were procured by the Council for Educational Travel, USA (CETUSA), a company that has worked with the J-1 program in the past and been critiqued for its treatment of guest workers. At the plant, the students lifted heavy boxes and were in uncomfortable working conditions. The plant operated faster than it normally would, forcing the students to work extremely hard and students discovered that their wages were being severely cut to pay for housing and program fees. Some students made a net total of less than $100/week.

The students paid between $3,000 and $6,000 for their visas and program fees and had been told that they would earn enough through work to make a profit by the end of the program. They claimed that they were deceived and dissatisfied with the cramped housing conditions they had to live in and the lack of contact with Americans and US culture.

They began to express dissatisfaction with their working conditions and met with local union leaders of the AFL-CIO. Shortly afterwards, the plant held “captive meetings” where the managers told the students that if they continued to organize they would face deportation, dismissal and/or other measures. The students continued the meetings and allied with the National Guestworker Alliance (NGA), set up to protect guest workers from exploitation.

On August 17, 2011, the students along with AFL-CIO and NGA members held a walk out of the factory followed by a sit-in on company grounds, where they protested the unfair and hazardous working conditions and below minimum wage pay. Police arrested three union officials. The following day similar protests were held. Some students did not participate in the protests, though their petition did have over 300 signatures. The protesting students were dismissed from the factory.

Their campaign gathered lots of media attention and support for their demands:  ending Hershey’s exploitation of J-1 guest workers, giving the jobs to American citizens and (later) demanding a return of the $3,000 - $6,000 they had spent to get to the USA but been unable to earn back.

Their protests continued and spread to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City, including a protest in front of Hershey’s building in Times Square on August 31. The campaign gained lots of national supporters, and on September 7, students presented a 67,000-signature petition and a report from the Human Rights Commission to Hershey executives, both of which were ignored. On September 23, the 400 students and 1,000 Americans from labor and activist groups and unions rallied outside of the packing plant in Palmyra.

Hershey’s did not respond directly to the complaints but instead claimed that the packing plant supervisors, Exel North American Logistics Inc., was responsible for the plant’s management and that SHS Onsite Solutions and CETUSA had hired the students.

The protests continued as the students and activists protested outside of Hershey’s building in New York City again on Halloween, and the next day activists from United Students Against Sweatshops from various schools participated in rallies outside of CVS stores, petitioning management not to buy Hershey’s products.

The protests immediately got the attention of national authorities and several investigations ensued. In February of 2012, the Department of Labor penalized Exel and SHS for violating safety and health laws. That same month, CETUSA was removed as a J-1 recruiter on the grounds that it had threatened students and was not paying them their full earnings.

In May of 2012, the J-1 Summer Work Travel program modified its criteria to prevent student worker exploitation, disallowing students to work in a variety of fields considered dangerous and emphasizing cultural exchange.