Shipyard Workers Organize to Stop 21st Century Slavery!

Shipyard Workers Organize to Stop 21st Century Slavery!

www.workdayminnesota.org

The shipyard workers – who are from India – have filed a class action suit against Signal International, a marine fabrication company; recruiters in India and the United States; and a New Orleans immigration lawyer, Malvern Burnett; accusing them of forced labor, human trafficking, fraud and civil rights violations.

The suit charges that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, more than 500 Indian men "were trafficked into the United States through the federal government's H-2B guestworker program to provide labor and services . . . Plaintiffs were subjected to forced labor as welders, pipefitters, shipfitters, and other marine fabrication workers at Signal operations in Pascagoula, Mississippi and Orange, Texas."

(visit the link for the full news article)

What the?!?

Has anyone heard about this?

I'm well familiar with Slave Labor practices abroad, but I had no idea this type of stuff was going on DOMESTICALLY!

Modern Day SLAVERY?

www.workdayminnesota.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Welcome to the free market. You should see labor standards in America's pacific holdings.

Wouldn't doubt it anymore

The public are now lied to.

We are spied on.

Our government tortures, and sadly some American's think its justified.

Our rights are being infringed on daily.

This is just the next logical step to ruining the good thing we have.

Why not, eh?

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


No, i didn't hear about this imported slavery, DD, good thread.

Seems like minimum wage is close to slave labor, too... with the high
costs, to only just exist today, that amount should be 10 times higher!

I hadn't heard of this before now either. But, I believe it. Anyway they can save a buck... It's a sad state of affairs. You'd think people would have learned and would be above slavery nowadays, guess not. Having these men pay $20000 to go and work in the "land of the free" is sickening. Not to mention the promises they've made and didn't keep.

As a side thought, I wonder if these men are actually educated and skilled in the areas they are working...or if the company just grabbed random men to do their dirty work without care of their experience or skills. Hopefully we don't have a bunch of ships sinking because some poor slave had no clue how to weld...

Michelle

It's not just in the USA that they are being treated as slaves.

Even the dismantling of these huge ships is given to very low paid workers who risk life and limb to break a ship.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The ships cost millions to buy as scrap, so the profit made from breaking them down in this manner must be worth it otherwise nobody would pay out for old ships.

Obviously, the only way a profit can be made is by paying very low wages.

How low?

Oh, about a dollar a day...

reply to post by Extralien


I just find it rather odd that in this day and age, right in the middle of main-stream AMERICA, this type of stuff is taking place! I mean it literally sounds like 18th century importing of slaves and slave labor, right in main stream U.S.A.! I expect to hear that type of stuff in 3rd world countries ( although we're quickly approaching that status ourselves ), but not WITHIN this nation! This is Crazy!

I agree, it is crazy...

And there can be only one reason why it's going on.

Money.

It's cheaper to send old ships to be scrapped to a poor nation to allow an eager work force strip a ship for next-to-nothing wages.

It only makes sense (from a corrupt business point of view) to import your work force to build new ships than it is to move your entire operation, have new facilities built, move in equipment etc.

It's the same with a lot of these call centres too. The work force is far cheaper, yet the actuall job suffers due to the accents of the workers.

Most call centres or airline carriers wont accept you for the job unless you have a good American/English accent.

This, to me, is wrong. The idea of getting people over to your way of living to suit your ideals and make life easy for you is wrong. It is you that must adjust to the ways of the world.

I personally know someone who went to France and complained that they didn't speak English.