Hershey is trying really, really hard to suck. And they're doing it!
The town, its company and its long-held image of All-American goodness are taking hits in a controversy involving hundreds of foreign-exchange students.
The students, on work, travel and cultural visas from China, Ghana and Eastern Europe, say Hershey gave them not culture but back-aching, production-line work on round-the-clock shifts at a candy-packaging warehouse.
They get about $8 an hour, minus charges for housing. [...]
Another irony? Hershey laid off 700 full-time workers over the past four years and plans to lay off another 500 next year. One might wonder if cheap-labor kids from other countries were always part of the plan.
Meanwhile, Hershey reports a profit for the quarter just ended of $130 million, up from $46 million a year ago. And sales jumped 7.5 percent to $1.3 billion.
Oh, and they've already opened chocolate factories in China and India. Another fine example of American institutions fleeing the country and abusing workers for fun and profit.