New rules on US summer jobs for foreign students

2012-05-31 16:33

分享到

 

Get Flash Player

Download

New rules on US summer jobs for foreign students

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

More than 100,000 international students will spend this summer working and traveling in the United States. They are participating in the Summer Work Travel program through the State Department. They receive J-1 exchange visitor visas.

The idea is for students to work for up to three months and earn enough money to then spend a month traveling before they return home.

The Exchange Visitor Program, aims to increase global understanding through educational and cultural exchanges.

The Summer Work Travel program has existed for years. This year there are some changes. The State Department recently amended the employment rules. These changes follow a strike last summer by foreign students working at a distribution center for Hershey's chocolates.

The State Department said the students were put to work for long hours in jobs that provided little or no contact with the outside world. The students complained about having to lift heavy boxes and to work overnight.

They and other workers protested conditions at the plant in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. The students also complained about being underpaid as a result of deductions from their earnings. Some of their pay had to go to subcontractors involved in the operations.

The State Department has now banned the use of Summer Work Travel students in warehouses or packaging plants. Also, the majority of their work hours cannot fall between 10:00 at night and 6:00 in the morning.

More jobs will be banned in the fall. These include most construction, manufacturing and food processing jobs. Summer Work Travel students will also not be allowed to work in most mining and agricultural jobs.

Daniel Costa at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington welcomed the new limits on jobs that the students can fill.

DANIEL COSTA: "That is good because it will protect the actual foreign workers from getting injured on the job. It also protects US workers, because there is high unemployment in a lot of those occupations."

He also praised a requirement that employers only fill temporary or seasonal jobs with Summer Work Travel students. He noted that some employers have continually hired new student workers to avoid having to hire regular full-time employees.

Jacob Horwitz is lead organizer for the National Guestworker Alliance, the group that organized the strike in Palmyra.

JACOB HORWITZ: "The changes to the J-1 rules really recognize the demands that the students put forward, and both add a whole set of protections and changes that protect local workers who work in industries that use guest workers and also protect future J-1 students."

He says the State Department's changes will help return the program to its original purpose as a cultural exchange program.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Jim Tedder.

Related stories:

A blog with answers for foreign students

Student addicts live, recover together at US university program

HK students aim for mainland universities

Attack against Chinese students on Australia train prompts fury online

(来源:VOA 编辑:旭燕)

 

分享到

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。

中国日报网双语新闻

扫描左侧二维码

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我们这儿都有!

中国日报双语手机报

点击左侧图标查看订阅方式

中国首份双语手机报
学英语看资讯一个都不能少!

关注和订阅

本文相关阅读
人气排行
搜热词
 
 
精华栏目
 

阅读

词汇

视听

翻译

口语

合作

 

关于我们 | 联系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版权声明:本网站所刊登的中国日报网英语点津内容,版权属中国日报网所有,未经协议授权,禁止下载使用。 欢迎愿意与本网站合作的单位或个人与我们联系。

电话:8610-84883645

传真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn