[Antiracism] [Workers' Rights] Support Indian Guestworkers on Hunger Strike

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

From: Rose Bookbinder 

 

This Wednesday the 11th of June is Jobs with Justice's national day to
support the Indian Guestworkers who worked in New Orleans. Many of you were
privileged to see their powerful speech at the JwJ national conference and
like myself you probably asked yourself what could you do to help. Well
here's your chance! This Wednesday you could support the workers through a
donation or call your congressmen and urge them to support a criminal
trafficking trial against Signal. Read More Below!



URGENT: Support Indian Guestworkers in their historic hunger strike
HUNGER STRIKE IN THIRD WEEK AS PRESSURE MOUNTS IN DC, INDIA FOR WORKERS'
DEMANDS

Dear friends:   We are the Indian guestworkers who were trafficked to the
post-Katrina Gulf Coast in December 2006.  We are now in Washington, DC
fighting labor trafficking and modern-day slavery.  We need your donation to
sustain our historic campaign. 

After Hurricane Katrina, a US company - Signal International, LLC -
recruited us by force, fraud, and coercion.  Signal's recruiters sold us
false promises.  They told us there were jobs in the Gulf Coast, and that we
could bring our families and build lives in the United States.  We paid
recruiters $20,000 for these American dreams.  We sold our homes, plunged
our families into debt and mortgaged our futures to raise the money.  But we
arrived into a nightmare. 

Signal held us in forced labor.  We lived like animals, 24 men to a small
room.  We faced constant threats and humiliation.  When we started to
organize in March 2007, Signal sent armed guards to the labor camps dawn.
They pulled our terrified organizers out of bed, imprisoned them on company
grounds, and attempted to deport them.  300 of us went on strike that day to
free our captive organizers.      

One year later, our struggle for dignity continues.  In March this year we
escaped from the labor camps into freedom in the United States.  In April we
walked from New Orleans to Washington in the footsteps of US freedom
fighters, to expose the realities of the guestworker program.  And on May 14
we launched a hunger strike, in the tradition of Gandhi, to bring Signal
International to justice. 

What do we want now?  The Department of Justice must allow us to participate
safely in a criminal trafficking  investigation of Signal.  Congress must
hold hearings on guestworker exploitation.  And  no future worker should
face the humiliation that we have faced: modern-day slavery in the world's
richest nation. 

We are now on Day 22 of our hunger strike. Success is at hand. We have the
support of key members of Congress.  Grassroots supporters have written
nearly 9,000 letters to Congress on our behalf.  And the Indian government,
because of our pressure, has launched criminal proceedings against the
recruiters in India. 

But the costs of our campaign are staggering.  Our  resolve is  unlimited -
but our collective savings are not.  We can't work in the US, and we still
face massive debt at home.  This fight is all we have.  Help us win!

Please make a secure contribution today at:
www.neworleansworkerjustice.org/contribute.htm.  You can also write a check
payable to our fiscal sponsor, the National Immigration Law Center. Be sure
to write Indian Workers' Congress on the subject line, and mail it to:
National Immigration Law Center, 3435 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 2850, Los
Angeles, CA 90010.  With your help, we can win!

In solidarity,
Indian Workers' Congress/Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity

New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice
www.neworleansworkerjustice.org

 

 

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