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Hold Hearings on Signal International!
After Hurricane Katrina, billions of dollars poured into the Gulf Coast region to rebuild. Signal International used these funds to enrich themselves by using the exploitive “guest worker” visas and corrupt recruiters to hire workers.
 Welders and pipe-fitters from India paid recruiters up to $20,000 for the promise of permanent visas for themselves and their families. Upon arrival to the U.S. these workers were placed in cramped, unsanitary housing, charged exorbitant rent, and forced to work for Signal International. Their working and living conditions in the Gulf Coast amounted to modern day human slavery.
On May 14th, these brave workers started a hunger strike to demand action from our elected officials. You can help! Please urge your Representatives in Congress to hold hearings on Signal International and to grant continued presence to the workers.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Sign onto Letter Supporting Trafficked Indian Workers on Hunger Strike
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I urge you to take a strong stand for justice and workers' rights by signing onto the letter of support for the Indian guestworkers who are survivors of human trafficking and who are currently on hunger strike in Washington D.C.
Your colleague, Representative Dennis Kucinich, is circulating a sign on letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to give guestworker survivors of human trafficking and forced labor the full protections of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. These survivors of human trafficking are asking for protection during the U.S. Department of Justice's criminal investigation of their traffickers. It is critical that the Department of Justice grant them continued presence so they can remain in the U.S. and participate in the investigation into their case without fear of deportation or retaliation. This investigation is important to expose how exploitative employers and recruiters manipulate the "guestworker" program as a tool of human trafficking and to prevent future workers from suffering similar abuses.
Please contact Noura Erakat on the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, at 202.226.5867, to review and add your support to the letter.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
May 13, 2008
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After Hurricane Katrina, billions of dollars poured into the Gulf Coast region to rebuild.
Unfortunately, many corporations used these funds to enrich themselves instead of investing in the devastated communities. When Signal International needed workers to rebuild the shipping industry, they did not hire and train the local population. Instead, Signal used the exploitive “guest worker” visas and corrupt recruiters to hire workers.
Welders and pipe-fitters from India paid recruiters up to $20,000 for the promise of permanent visas for themselves and their families. Upon arrival to the U.S. these workers were placed in cramped, unsanitary housing, charged exorbitant rent, and forced to work for Signal International. Their working and living conditions in the Gulf Coast amounted to modern day human slavery.
On March 6, more than 100 workers broke the human trafficking chain and quit their jobs at Signal in protest. These workers, together with the New Orleans Workers Center, are carrying forward the struggle for justice not only for themselves, but also for all immigrant workers in the U.S. by exposing the fundamental injustices of the guest worker program. These workers have toured the U.S. telling their stories and have appealed to Federal Government to investigate Signal International and their recruiters, only to be surveilled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On May 14th, these brave workers started a hunger strike to demand action from our elected officials.
You can help! Please urge your Representatives in Congress to hold hearings on Signal International and to grant continued presence to the workers.
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