New Orleans Guestworker Solidarity
In late 2006, over 500 Indian workers mortgaged their futures for an American dream, paying $20,000 apiece for false promises of green cards from US and Indian recruiters. Instead they received guestworker visa and arrived to an American nightmare at Gulf Coast marine construction company Signal International. Signal forced them to live 24 men to a trailer and charged them $1,050 a month for it.
On Wednesday, March 14th Signal guestworkers launched a hungerstrike to call on the Department of Justice to prosecute Signal International and on Congress to hold hearings on guest workers in the post-Katrina Gulf Coast. This hungerstrike came on the heels of a nationwide workers tour organized by the New Orleans Worker Center for Racial Justice with support from Jobs with Justice.
On June 11, 2008 the guestworkrs and their allies held a n International Day of Action, involved hundreds of supporters across the US. In a powerful show of support on the 11th, workers and allies in Washington, DC rallied in front of the Department of Justice before sending a delegation of allies to demand a meeting, which they were granted.
Getting a meeting was not the only success of the day. An Indian Parliamentarian who had come to learn about the plight of these workers, was so moved by the speakers that he pledged his support on the spot. Also, as a result of the pressure generated on June 11, the DOJ agreed to meet with a group of religious, civil, and human rights leaders supporting the workers.
But the struggle is not over. The Congress of Indian Workers and Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity are trying to:
* Force the U.S. Congress to hold hearings into the widespread abuses of the guest worker visa.
* Generate public pressure and campaign visibility so the US government cannot sweep the case under the rug or deport the workers - focus the pressure on the demand for "continued presence" under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
* Push the Department of Justice (DoJ) to do a criminal
investigations into Signal for human trafficking,
* Pursue a civil case of trafficking and racketeering with the help of their legal team (including the New Orleans Workers Center, Southern Poverty Law Center, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Louisiana Justice Institute).
Allies can support the workers by continuing to:
*Participate in public solidarity actions to accompany the workers into the interviews.
*Push Senators and Congressional Representatives to write letters and speak publicly in support of the workers.
*Hold educational and media events to exposing the incredible injustice millions of workers in the Gulf Coast region are facing on the third anniversary of Katrina, connecting the struggles of the displaced
and unemployed workers from the region and the super exploitation of immigrant guest workers brought in to replace them.
* Help fundraise to support the campaign - the worker leaders need funds to cover basic needs around housing, food, transportation, and phone bills.
* Demand that no worker who organizes to stop human trafficking be faced with the threat of deportation.
Click Here to Tell Congress to Investigate Signal
Click Here to View Photos of the May 14th Rally
For more background information, visit the New Orleans Worker Center for Racial Justice
