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Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania Newsletter
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In This Issue:
Help Feed Students Victimized by Hershey!
Sept. 11; Interfaith Remembrance
Save the Date; Sept. 22
Support The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
Feedback and Input
Help Feed The 400 Students Victimized by Hershey!!
Incredible as it may seem, for years your Hershey's chocolate bars have been packaged by captive labor - by foreign students trapped into hard labor by what appears to be a form of human trafficking. Now, we are being asked to help feed 400 foreign college students, the latest victims of this shameful activity Hershey has been conducting in our community.
By now, the walk-out these students courageously staged is in the news all over the nation. Newspapers from New York to Los Angeles are reporting the story of what has been happening in Pennsylvania. [In case you have not seen any of the reports, you can find the New York Times story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/us/18immig.html ] Hershey has brought shame upon all of us - but now we are being called upon to stand up and redeem our community and help the victims who are the true heroes of the story.
The current group of 400 students trapped into hard labor staged a walk-out. (See Rabbi Choper's eye-witness account below.) Now they have brought this scandal to our attention, and are fighting for these 400 jobs to be turned into jobs with living wages for Pennsylvanians. But these students now do not have an income. And until they can go home, they need to eat.
The National Guestworkers Alliance, who helped organize the students, has turned to us to try to help feed the students. We are in need of Grocery Store Gift Cards, or cash with which to buy Grocery Store Gift Cards, so that we can provide these students with the means to sustain themselves.
We should strive to do more - perhaps help give these students the cultural experience they actually came here for - but at the very least we should feed them.
We should also demand more of Hershey. As of the moment, Hershey Corporation is still denying any responsibility for this scandal, even though the work was being done for them and inside their warehouse. The students are demanding that the company stop the practice of forced labor and convert the jobs into living wage jobs for Pennsylvanians. This is not enough. The only way for Hershey to reclaim its good name is to join the fight against Human Trafficking by contributing financially to efforts to eliminate it. Hershey must demonstrate through positive action that the company has no tolerance for forced labor or human trafficking.
MORE IMMEDIATELY, however, WE NEED YOUR HELP TO FEED THE STUDENTS!
Please send Grocery Gift Cards, or checks earmarked for Grocery Gift Cards (made out to The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania) to:
The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania; PO Box 13059; Harrisburg, PA 17110.
IF YOU WISH TO USE PAYPAL - then please email us simultaneously at
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to let us know that your donation is intended for Grocery Gift Cards.
We will deliver all donations to our National Guestworker Alliance (NGA) contacts in Hershey.
It is possible for you to make direct contact with the NGA as well through their website [guestworkeralliance.org].
If you have other ideas for feeding the students, please contact us at
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On The Day the Captive Student-Laborers Walked Out
After participating in the rally accompanying the walk-out, Rabbi Carl Choper, President of TIA-PA, sent out the following email to local Central Pennsylvania religious leaders:
To Friends in Central Pennsylvania:
I participated today in a protest at a warehouse of a Hershey sub-contractor which is the lead story tonight in all the local news broadcasts in Harrisburg. What is not coming across in the coverage is how this instance is not a typical labor dispute. This involves deceiving foreign college students around the world into spending several thousand dollars to come to America for a three-month cultural experience and employment opportunity. But as soon as they get here their sponsoring agency (and only support-system in the country) instructs them to sign a contract which locks them into full-time difficult warehouse work at minimum wage levels packaging Hershey chocolates for shipment. But it is actually below minimum wage because they are also locked into housing arrangements at rates double the market price, and are subject to many other fees all of which are deducted from their pay. In the end they are doing hard labor in a foreign country for as little as two or three dollars and hour.
When the students complain, they are told that they were the ones who chose to come here and that if they leave they will be immediately deported. Few of them know anyone in the United States to reach out to. Many of them cannot afford simply to leave because they need to try to make at least some money to pay off the debts they entered into to come here. Most or all already have plane tickets back home that are scheduled for the end of their scheduled time here. This means that they have to pay to reschedule their flights if they leave early. It is unlikely in any case that they will recoup what they spent to come here. What they will have is the memory of a three-month sentence of involuntary hard labor, and hopefully no lasting work-related injuries.
At any given time Hershey's sub-contractors have 400 foreign college students working three-month terms under these conditions. Over the course of a year they trap 1200 unknowing students into coming here under these circumstances. It appears this has been going on for at least 10 years.
This is an immoral enterprise that brings shame onto our whole community. It is hard to believe that it is not also illegal, but it is likely that a team of lawyers have thought quite deeply about how to keep it barely on this side of the law. They may or may not have been successful in that attempt, but we should not allow it to continue. This community should explode in outrage, and I am hoping the religious community can help lead the way.
Please speak out about this and let people in your faith communities know about this, perhaps forwarding this email to them. It is important that this basic mistreatment of fellow human beings not be allowed to continue in our community.
We should not only demand that this stop. We should also demand that Hershey do something restorative. Hershey should actively join the fight against human trafficking rather than being part of the problem.
And in some way we should encourage or facilitate community outreach to the 400 students currently here. Clearly their sponsors have not been supporting them, and before they go home someone should give them a different view of America than they have seen so far.
Rabbi Carl Choper
The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg
PS - The protest itself, partly in front of the plant in Palmyra, and partly in Hershey, was very effective for what it was. Operations at the plant were shut down. Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and two local leaders of the Service Employees International Union were arrested. (Local media did not report that, but the New York Times was present so maybe it will be reported there.) Interestingly, the police presence was rather heavy. I overheard one of the TV cameramen note that Hershey certainly is a company town, as he pointed out that the police had canisters of mace at the ready. The canine unit was also deployed, and a state police helicopter circled overhead for hours. I saw no violence or threat of violence from the students or their supporters, however. But word is now getting out about what Hershey has been supporting. Now much is depending on how the rest of us respond.
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How Can We Build
Our
Future Together?
An Interfaith Remembrance of September 11, 2001
Presented by the Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania and St. Stephens episcopal Cathedral
ôôôôôôôôôôôô
Sunday, SEPTEMBER 11, 2011
ST. STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL CATHEDRAL
221 NORTH FRONT STREET
HARRISBURG, PA
2:00 pm
Ceremony with Presentation by Imam Yahya Hendi, Islamic Chaplain of Georgetown University and Founder of Clergy Beyond Borders
3:00 pm
Interfaith Panel Discussion:
Dealing with Extremists Within Your Own Faith
Building Our Future together
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SAVE THE DATE
How Can We Build
Our
Future Together?
Follow - up dialogue
Evening of September 22, 2011
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Support The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
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HELP PROTECT BOTH FAITH AND FREEDOM IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Please help us continue to advocate for a stronger multi-faith society. You can support us on-line using the DONATE option on TIA-PA.org, or here:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8124595
Or, send a check to:
The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania
P.O. Box 13059
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Feedback and Input
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TIA-PA Goal/Mission Statement:
To create an interfaith movement in Pennsylvania where citizens committed to the American values of justice, equality and compassion are encouraged to speak out in support of issues and policies which promote that vision.
To create politically resonant religious language derived from that progressive social vision, and engage our community by restoring that language into the larger society.
Are there issues and events happening in your area? Tell us about them so we can share with others. Have ideas on programs and events you'd like to see? Share your thoughts so we can collaborate. Email us at:
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Contact Information
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phone: 717-232-5195
webpage: TIA-PA.org
email:
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This e-newsletter is produced and sponsored by BoltMap, Inc (717) 564-2477
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Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania | P.O. Box 13059 | Harrisburg | PA | 17110
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