Here's the modern world economy in a nutshell

So they tell European students to get a visa to come work in the US for the summer, under the guise of promoting cultural exchange, only for them to find out that they paid out more to get into the program than they were earning from the job. Because we all know the best summer jobs leave you with less money than you started with. On the bright side, American corporations get to hornswoggle foreign workers and avoid payroll taxes while American workers are idled and cast aside.

I was at Cedar Point last month and I would say at least half of the workers there were foreign (they had their home country listed on their nametags). Now I know why. That was always a prime summer job because you got to go away from your parents for the summer and live in company housing with other young adults, but it seems that paying that little bit of payroll tax is just too onerous for the company, so they have no choice but to import a bunch of guest workers. I’m thrilled that an entire generation of foreigners get to know the US as the place where you go to get ripped off and berated by bosses and customers.

Ocean City, Maryland has had a lot of foreign workers for years. The primary problem the employers were trying to address was the loss of student workers in mid-August as they returned to high school and college earlier and earlier. At least that’s the problem they claimed they were trying to solve.

Meanwhile the CEO of Hershey, John P. Bilbrey, made $4,214,807 last year.

It’s fucking sad, isn’t it?

It is sad about the foreign students yes but fuck no it isn’t about the CEO. If his company did not think he was worth that much to the company he would not be making that much.

OP title was dead on. Maybe I’m an ass but I have no sympathy for them. Its a cultural exchange program, welcome to our culture, this is a big part of it. Now go back home and have sympathy as you enjoy your 30 hr work week

Yeah, I’m all for capitalism and letting the free market decide upon worth. I’m just pointing out the relative difference in wages between the guy running the company, and what his company thinks fair compensation should be for the worker bees.

Hershey closed a manufacturing plant in a small town near hear recently and moved the operations to Mexico. The company probably employed half of the population of the town, and was a huge tourist attraction to boot, which obviously brought money into the town.

I do think it’s sad when things like this are done to increase profits and share price. I’ll stop pretending to be Michael Moore now.

As time goes on I have less and less faith in what companies believe is acceptable salary for anyone in the organization.

Wrong. Through interlocking directorships, a community of CEO’s and other bigwigs set salaries and bonuses for each other in a scratch-each-others’-backs environment. There are stockholder activists who fight this but the idea that companies are still controlled by their individual stockholders is largely a myth. Instead, the same bigwigs control voting proxies through their influence at investment funds, etc.

The Hershey Chocolate Company (now known simply as Hershey Co.) provides an excellent example of how companies are not run according to shareholders’ wishes. Milton S. Hershey was an admirable philanthropist who donated most of his wealth to charities including the Hershey Trust Co., chartered to provide for the Pennsylvania town which proudly named itself after this philanthropist. The Hershey Trust Co. still has voting control of Hershey Co., yet ignores its charitable charter to instead “maximize shareholder wealth”, even threatening to close factories in Hershey, Penn. despite that the same Hershey citizens were the intended beneficiaries of the Trust. :smack:

Wait, wait, wait. So you’re telling me that now foreign workers are entitled to high-paying jobs in America?! WTF kind of logic leads to that conclusion?

These people are getting more than minimum wage for a factory job, and they’re pissed that they have to pay rent? Was it a surprise to them that flying across the Atlantic and dealing with government bureaucracy is expensive? Did it shock them to learn that feeding themselves is costly?

I don’t get what their gripe is. If they don’t like it, they can go home. No one’s holding them captive*. So their paycheck disappears as soon as it hits their hands…BFD. Welcome to life.

*Well, yaknow, except the human traffickers, which really have nothing to do with the Hershey factories.

He’s no Milton S. Hershey.

He’s no Milton S. Hershey. And he’s interim CEO. Interim. Good riddance, Mr. Bilbrey.

And it really isn’t different than a lot of youth cultural exchange programs. A friends daughter was an exchange student this year. Her host family paid for food and lodging. But it was $10k for transportation, pocket money, program fees - and that was without the “lets travel through Europe once the school year is done.”

Nor is it any different than most au pair situations - once again, food and lodging is paid for, most most foreign au pairs work their back ends off and get paid enough to have some pocket money. They aren’t going to save enough money to see the states with a year of nannying under their belt.

(Sex trafficking is, of course, different, and a fraud against the system, which I’m pretty sure don’t include a program for sex industry workers - I could be wrong.)

This. If I was 19 again, I wouldn’t see this as a bad deal to spend a summer in a foreign country. I get to spend the summer in say, Germany, and I pay for my work visa, show up and get my room and board paid for by working a job during the day, and have the days off for exploring the country? Sign me up. I fail to see the outrage.

I can’t believe how credulous you guys are. “Cultural exchange,” really? You guys are really buying that? I hate to break it to you, because I know the USA is a totally awesome place to live and visit, but nobody would incur a net loss AND have to work nights in a factory just to experience the wonders of Lebanon County, PA.

Reminded me of the quote:

I can’t believe how credulous the students who took this job were. I’m 99% certain that the wage, program fees, rent and the fact that they’d be responsible for paying their own visa and travel fees was disclosed when they signed up (and if not, the corporate attorney has a LOT of ‘splainin’ to do).

The idea with these sorts of jobs/programs is that you work for small wages, getting most of your wages eaten up by the costs, and in exchange get to put “participated in Disney’s College Program” or “Counselor at YMCA Summer Camp” or “As an ISE student exchange participant, I spent a year in Finland.” Which stands out over “Spent the summer of my Freshman year living at home and working 20 hours a week at McDonalds.” Are they worth it? - Sometimes. But almost never short term financially.

This was not a cultural exchange program. That’s a complete load. This was a way for Exel to cheaply supply Hershey with shift workers and let Hershey avoid permanently hiring anyone. The intent of the J-1 program was to put foreign students in easy seasonal jobs at summer camps, amusement parks, resorts, etc. Not night shifts at a goddamned warehouse. I bet this Exel company didn’t even tell any of the students what the nature of the work was, they just took their money and used them.

Meanwhile, US unemployment remains high, which is completely understandable when workers willing to work in a warehouse for a measly $8.50 an hour can’t compete against imported foreign suckers because of payroll taxes. It’s yet another work visa loophole providing American companies with even more perverse incentives.

Like I said, sign me up. If I was 19 and had the chance to spend a summer in a rural county in Germany, with the condition that I had to work but room and board were provided, I would do it in a heart beat. As an American, I (like you) don’t see the cultural wonder in Lebanon County because we are used to such things, however I feel that it would be a great opportunity for someone to come over and see a part of American culture.

Now, if I was from a rich family and Dad was putting me on an airplane and in swank hotels with a credit card that I could used to wine and dine and travel the continent in style, that’s obviously a better choice, but at least in my mind, this presents a great opportunity for kids who would otherwise never have the chance to visit a foreign land.

The thing is, this visa program is not intended to provide factory or warehouse workers, and the students probably did not expect to become such workers, nor are they trained for that. The program is to provide workers for the tourism industry, as the original article said. There is an element of trickery involved here on the part of Hershey.

If factory work is beneath them, then they are free to go home. Again, not everyone has a trust fund to travel. This may be the only way many of young people can travel across the pond.

There are many, many people in this country who work full time in factories with no hope for advancement. Three months of this is not hell.