Indian Guest Workers Protest Modern-Day Slavery
Thursday, March 27, 2008
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Indian guest workers will hold a series of actions in the coming
days to pressure Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen to take legal action against their
employer for human trafficking and forcing workers into slavery-like working
conditions. The workers claim that recruiters for Signal International -- a
marine construction company -- promised them decent wages and "green cards" but,
when they arrived in the US, were forced into "substandard housing with 24 men
crammed into a small room for which they each were charged more than $1,000 a
month," reports James Parks on the AFL-CIO
Weblog. The workers from India - who filed a lawsuit against the
company last week - also claim they paid a $20,000 fee to recruiters in
exchange for permanent US residency documents, but were only given a 10-month
work visa, Parks reports. The Indian workers will hold a press conference in
Dupont Circle today at noon and will rally outside the White House on Monday.
Watch UNION CITY! Friday and Monday more info on the upcoming events.