Indian workers allege 'inhuman treatment' by US firm

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=235065

Over 300 Indian workers employed by a US-based marine fabrication company have alleged that they are being treated like 'animals' and have formed a committee to raise their concerns against the firm.

Indians working for Signal International LLC, based in Mississippi and Texas, have alleged that they are forced to live and work in slave-like conditions and are unduly exploited.

All the workers were hired under the H2B visa programme, also known as a guest worker programme.

The employees alleged that they were frequently threatened by the firm with salary reduction and deportation, reported ethnic Indian newspaper Indolink.
more...
No wonder these companies want increased H2B visas so they can treat foreigners cruelly
and cheap labor...

thats why they should be stopped

[stillcool]

1. I don't suppose

this news will see much daylight. It might put a damper in the "it's the illegal immigrants fault", campaign.

[Cobalt-60]

2. H2B is a slave labor visa

No one believes the corporate stories about not being able to secure American Labor.
The treatment these Indians have received would not be tolerated for an instant by American or Canadian workers.
The ability to inflict this treatment and have it tolerated long term is what makes these foreign workers so attractive to Republicons.
I wish them luck, but I know how it will come out - mass deportation and replacement with another 300.

[melody]

3. The Hamlet Fire

More than two dozen people were burned to death and fifty others sustained serious injuries when the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant processing caught fire back in 1991 in North Carolina. The employees were trapped behind locked fire doors. People tried desperately to kick open the steel-enforced doors -- many of the cadavers were found in that condition.

The plant had never received a safety inspection in eleven years of operation. Oh, and most of the wounded workers were laid off due to "disability".

And don't even get me started on sewing room sweatshops and coal miners. Americans work in horrific conditions every day, particularly in the south, or among undocumented workers.

No taking away from what is going on in India and the other "slave labor" venues, but it's not all being done in so-called third world countries.

[TheMadMonk]

5. The "venue" in this case IS the United States.

[melody]

6. Yes, and it's not a new event or restricted solely to new arrivals

It's an old and ettered practice, the torture of the working person.

[lligrd]

4. It Is Exactly How They Would Treat American Workers Too

if it were left up to them. Unions helped make this country what it is today.

[lovuian]

7. i believe we are going to see a resurgence of unions

workers will revolt