NEW ORLEANS
WORKERS’ CENTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***
100 satyagrahis grill Indian Ambassador
during three-hour meeting
Diplomat falls short of concrete
timelines but pledges moral support
WASHINGTON, DC – After a nine-day satyagraha that began in New
Orleans, nearly 100 Indian human trafficking survivors packed the central hall
of the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, on Thursday for a three-hour meeting
with Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen, along with over a
dozen of the workers’ advocates and major international news media.
Sen refused to advocate
for the workers doj and other us agencies, claiming
that protocol forbade him from doing so.
Aclu, saalt, jwj,
splc,
Though the workers and the ambassador agreed that the meeting was “a conversation, not a confrontation,” the atmosphere was tense at times as the workers confronted Ambassador Sen over comments in the press attributed to embassy officials that referred to “the stupidity of greedy and semi-literate workers.” They also pressed him for a commitment that Indian officials would always put the workers first in any future handling of the case, rather than the company Signal International.
“We’re hoping that before any action is taken interfacing with company representatives, with government representatives, with any other representatives of any other interests...in this issue, either here or in India, you will communicate with us first. Do we have that assurance?” asked Saket Soni, a workers’ advocate and director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice.
“Yes. I have heard you and I have heard everyone here loud
and clear,” Ambassador Sen said.
After the talks, workers expressed pride that they had made their voices heard, though they were disappointed with Ambassador Sen’s inability to provide a concrete timeline on actions to open US-Indian talks on protecting future Indian workers from abuses of the guest worker program.
“We are not satisfied because the ambassador is locked in protocols. But human trafficking does not follow protocols,” Sabulal Vijayan, former Signal worker and organizer with the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity, said after the meeting. “The company and the recruiters that exploited us were not doing things by the book. Human trafficking shatters all protocols and requires a response that does the same.”
Rajan Pazhambalakode, another organizer and former Signal worker, said: “What we need is action, not just symbolic reassurances. We are going to continue to work to arrive at a timeline for action from the ambassador.”
At the meeting, the workers demanded yes-or-no answers from
the ambassador on whether he would work to pressure US agencies to prosecute
the company and recruiters that trafficked the workers, jump-start US-Indian talks
about the abuse of Indian nationals under the US federal guest worker program,
and protect the workers and their families from retaliation for their actions.
The 100 workers who met with the ambassador were among over
500 Indian welders and pipe fitters who paid approximately $20,000 apiece to US
and Indian recruiters for false promises of permanent residency in the US, and
instead were held in forced labor by Northrop Grumman subcontractor Signal International
on ten-month temporary H2B guest worker visas in Gulf Coast shipyards under
deplorable conditions. The Department of Justice has opened a human trafficking
investigation into the case, and US Congressman George Miller has demanding
detailed documentation about the case from Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.
The ranks of the workers’ allies and supporters have surged
during the eight-day journey, and now include legendary civil rights leader
Hollis Watkins, Jobs With Justice, the National Immigration Law Center, the ACLU,
the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the Louisiana Justice Institute, the Low-Wage Migrant Worker Coalition,
the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights, the Mississippi Immigrant
Rights Alliance, Rev. Timothy McDonald’s First Iconium
Baptist Church, Rev. Nelson Johnson’s Beloved Community, Amnesty International,
and numerous other groups.
The workers plan to remain in Washington, DC, for seven days, during which they hope to meet with key Congressional decision-makers on labor and immigration policy. On Monday at 11:30 a.m. EST, they will hold a rally with local allies Jobs With Justice.
The workers’ experiences during their journey
to and stay in DC are being detailed in a text and photo blog at www.neworleansworkerjustice.org.
India contact: Anannya Bhattacharjee
+91-9810970627 (India mobile phone); email: anannya48@gmail.com
US Contact: Stephen Boykewich – Media Director, NOWCRJ
+1-504-655-0876 (US mobile phone); email: spboykewich@gmail.com