Indian Hunger Strikers Profiled in The New York Times (fired for trying to form a union)

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/06/10/indian-hunger-strikers-profiled-in-the-new-york-times/

by Mike Hall, Jun 10, 2008

Since March, we’ve kept you posted on the Indian welders and pipe fitters who were lured to the United States with promises of green cards and good jobs in Gulf Coast shipyards. Once there, they found themselves being held in modern-day forced labor, victims of a human trafficking scheme under the guise of the H-2B guest worker program.

Several of the workers, after being fired for trying to form a union, began a hunger strike in April, outside the Indian embassy in Washington, D.C.

While their story has been featured prominently in the progressive and activist blog world, it garnered little mainstream media attention until Saturday. That’s when The New York Times picked up the story.

The Times reports that five of the hunger strikers have been hospitalized, including Paul Konar, who went without food for 23 days.

The hunger strikers have filed suit against the shipyard owner, Signal International, and the U.S. and Indian firms involved in recruiting them. The recruiting firms charged the workers as much as $20,000. The hunger strikers have been seeking an investigation by the Justice Department into their human trafficking charges and last week, the department announced it had undertaken a probe.

Congressional leaders have agreed conduct hearings to examine H-2B abuses.

The workers and their congressional allies have also asked the Justice Department to protect the workers while the investigation goes forward. Tomorrow the hunger strikers and their supporters will rally outside Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., to demand protection and support during the investigation.

Check back this week for more on the hunger strike, the rally and the workers’ fight for justice.