Over 100 Indian workers, who quit their jobs at a Mississippi shipyard protesting alleged slave treatment by their employer, have decided to seek help from the United Nations after a meeting with Indian Ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen yielded no solutions.
The workers, who claimed that they were lured to move to the US by false promises of permanent jobs, will meet the UN High Commissioner on Tuesday afternoon to "highlight the role of the US and India in trafficking guest workers", according to a press release by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a non-governmental organization working with the workers.
The workers will "highlight the role of the Indian and US governments in allowing companies and recruiters to use the US guest worker programme as a legally sanctioned vehicle for modern-day slavery", said the release.
According to the press release, the workers decided to seek the help of the UN High Commissioner after a meeting with the Indian ambassador yielded only assurances but no solutions.
Earlier, the workers had marched for 1,500-kms, from New Orleans to Washington, to meet Indian envoy Ronen Sen on March 28.
During their three-hour long meeting with Sen, the workers had said that they needed more than symbolic assurance and demanded that necessary steps be taken to prevent abuse of workers under the H2B visa programme.
These workers had quit the Signal International plant in Pascagula in Mississippi on March 6 after alleging that they were being forced to live and work under inhuman conditions.
A class action law suit has been filed in New Orleans focusing on anti-racketeering against Signal International, the American and Indian recruiters.
