VOA慢速英语:New Rules on US Summer Jobs for Foreign Students

More than one hundred thousand 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.
10多万名国际学生今年暑期将到美国工作和旅游。他们获得J-1交流访问者签证，参加美国国务院的“暑期工作旅游项目”。

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.
该理念是让学生们工作三个月，赚到足够多的钱旅游一个月再回家。

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.
暑期工作旅游计划已存在多年，今年有了一些改变，美国国务院最近修订了就业规则。这些改变源于去年暑期在Hershey'巧克力公司配送中心工作的外国学生发起的一次罢工。

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.
国务院称，这些学生们被派去长时间工作，很少或根本没有与外界接触。这些学生抱怨，自己必须抬起沉重的箱子，并通宵工作。

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.
他们和其他工人还抗议这家位于宾夕法尼亚州巴尔米拉市的工厂的工作条件。这些学生还抱怨收入被扣除后工资太低，他们的一些薪酬被该活动分包商拿走。

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 ten at night and six in the morning. The students are also barred from jobs in workplaces that the federal Labor Department says are unsafe.
现在国务院已经禁止仓库或包装工厂雇佣暑期工作旅游项目学生。此外，他们的主要工作时间也不能被安排在晚上10点和早上6点之间。学生们也被禁止在被联邦劳工部评为不安全的场所工作。

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.
秋天会有更多工作将被禁止。这些包括大多数建造业、制造业和食品加工业工作。暑期工作旅游项目学生也将不被允许参加矿业和农业领域的工作。

Daniel Costa at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington welcomed the new limits on jobs that the students can fill.
华盛顿经济政策研究所的Daniel Costa对这些学生可以工作的领域的新限制表示欢迎。

DANIEL COSTA:  "That is good because it will protect the actual foreign workers from getting injured on the job. It also protects U.S. workers, because there is high unemployment in a lot of those occupations."
DANIEL COSTA：“这是好事。因为它能保护现在的外国工人在工作中受伤，它也能保护美国工人。因为在很多这些职业的失业率都很高。”

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.
他还赞扬了雇主只能在临时性和季节性工作中雇佣暑期工作旅游项目学生的要求。他指出，有些雇主不断聘请新的学生工作者，以避免聘请全职员工。”

Jacob Horwitz is lead organizer for the National Guestworker Alliance, the group that organized the strike in Palmyra.
Jacob Horwitz是全美外来工联盟的主要组织者，该联盟组织了巴尔米拉罢工。

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."
JACOB HORWITZ：“J-1条例的变化真正认识到学生们提出的要求，同时添加了一整套保护政策和改变，来保护就职于使用外来工行业的本地工人，并保障了未来获得J-1签证的学生。”

He says the State Department's changes will help return the program to its original purpose as a cultural exchange program.
他说，国务院的变化将有助于使该项目重回作为文化交流计划的本来目的。