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Guestworkers strike at McDonald's USA
Young workers from Latin America and Asia working at McDonald's in the US state of Pennsylvania on J-1 "cultural exchange" visas stopped work on March 6 to protest extreme exploitation. Supported by the National Guestworker Alliance they have demonstrated outside McDonald's headquarters and are planning an international day of action for June 6.
Like the J-1 workers at chocolatemaker Hershey's sub-contractors (read the story here), the young workers had paid USD 3-4,000 each for the visas, charged extortionate rent for substandard housing, compelled to work long hours for sub-minimal wages and constantly threatened with deportation.
Some of them tell their stories in an interview with RadioLabour, available here.