Indian Guest Workers Rally at Capitol
Thursday, May 22, 2008
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Six more workers joined the week-old hunger strike by Indian guest workers
Wednesday at a rally outside the Capitol to pressure Congress to support their
struggle against exploitation. At the action, workers reported that hunger striker Christopher Glory was admitted
to George Washington University Hospital Wednesday for dangerously low blood
pressure. The workers' families and dozens of DC area activists also
participated in a day-long solidarity fast Wednesday to support the campaign.
Following the rally, workers and their supporters met with Congressional
representatives and pressured them to hold hearings on abuses of workers under
the guest worker program and ask the Department of Justice to protect the
workers during an ongoing criminal anti-trafficking investigation against their
former employer Signal International. A community meeting with representatives
of the campaign will be held today
at 7P. If the workers demands are not met, they will continue their strike
outside the Capitol through Sunday, May 25 then move to Dupont Circle. Click here for ways you can support the
campaign.
- report/photo by Andy Richards