On a hunger strike for the last 11 days, Indian dock workers, who are demanding that they be allowed to stay in the United States till an inquiry against a company that allegedly exploited them is completed, have vowed to continue their stir even after four of them were hospitalised.
Christopher Glory, who was hospitalised after being diagnosed with erratic blood pressure on eight day of the stir to press action against Signal International and its Indian recruiters, was released from George Washington University Hospital, a spokesman for the workers said on Sunday. Glory was stabilised, re-hydrated and released from the hospital, he said as the strike entered the 11th day.
The guest workers on hunger strike are part of a group of 500 who came to the US under the H2B visa to work for Signal International, a marine and fabrication company in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The workers claim they were brought to the US on a false promise of permanent residency and were forced to live under inhuman conditions, a charged denied by the company. They filed a complaint in the district court of Louisiana in March.
Apart from the Louisiana hearings, the Department of Justice also launched an investigation into the case in March shortly after more than 100 Indian employees of Signal walked away from their jobs. The New Orleans Workers' Centre for Racial Justice, which is supporting the strikers, said that three others --Sony Sulekha, Kachuru Dananjaya and Muruganantham Kandhasami --were also hospitalised after their blood pressure became erratic. The workers plan to continue their hunger strike for 21 days.
The workers, who had earlier met Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen to apprise him of their plight but later said that they disappointed by the government's response, have sent him a letter seeking New Delhi's intervention to enable about 550 Indians to stay in the United States until at least the inquiry against Signal International is completed.
'We want the Indian government to take clear action to pressure US authorities to grant us continued presence. We understand that the Indian government fears the US government; and that this fear may stop you from putting pressure on behalf of your own nationals. We have overcome our fear, and spoken directly to members of Congress, and to federal authorities. It is your responsibility to do the same,' says the letter whose text was released by Stephen Boykewich, media director of New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice.
Lawmaker Dennis Kucinich, meanwhile, visited the agitating workers and promised to send a letter to the US Department of Justice urging for their continued presence in the United States and to hold Congressional hearings on H2B guest worker abuses. The striking workers have also received support from several Congressmen, notably George Miller, a California Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Education and Labour.
"We were like pigs in a cage," said Sabulal Vijayan, a former worker, who allegedly tried to commit suicide by slitting his wrists when he was threatened with deportation after he protested against the way they were being treated. The workers claimed that they paid USD 20,000 each to recuiters. Signal has denied all allegations of ill treatment of the workers, and complete ignorance about whether or not they had to pay their recruiters.