http://www.sunherald.com/201/story/417315.html
Posted on Fri, Mar. 07, 2008
WEB EXTRA
Indian workers unite against Signal
Company recruits allege abusive treatment
By MARGARET BAKE
Company statement

Eighty-nine guest workers from India who took part in a peaceful protest at Signal International on Thursday say they've been victims of a human-trafficking network that has bankrupt their families and nearly destroyed their lives. The workers left the camps where they say they were forced to live in deplorable conditions late Wednesday night and by the following morning they had gathered near the entrance of the marine-construction company to toss their hard hats as a sign of solidarity. The group said they were contacting the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate their allegations of human trafficking. The workers would be allowed to stay in the country if they became witnesses in a federal investigation. A year ago a smaller group of workers protested the same issues at the Pascagoula site and Signal International officials denied the allegations. An investigation followed, Signal officials said, and the company's practices and facilities were found to be "fully compliant." "Signal conducts all its operations to the highest standards and in full compliance with the law," according to a written release from Signal International on Thursday. "Signal's employment and housing of its H2B workers is no exception. The H2B employees are paid in excess of the prevailing rate for their skills and they receive the same pay and benefits as do Signal's other employees. Complaints about the quality of the housing complex Signal constructed for these workers are unfounded." Sabulal Vijayan of Kerala, India, said he sold his wife's jewelry to pay a recruiter almost $20,000 to come to this country to work at Signal. In exchange, he said, he was promised a green card and permanent residency but instead received a 10-month H2B work visa and access to the unsavory living conditions. "It was impossible to sleep in such a prison," he said. "For 24 people, there were two water closets (toilets), and four showers. For this degrading accommodation, they deducted $1,050 per month from our paychecks." Vijayan said he's an example of what happens to protestors. He helped organize the initial protest and afterward, he said, he was fired and threatened with deportation. Saket Soni, spokesman for the New Orleans-based Alliance for Guest Workers for Dignity, said the workers have pooled their money to help pay for motels to stay in as they continue their attempts to put an end to the alleged abuse. Since Hurricane Katrina, Signal International has recruited more than 500 Indian workers, with about 300 working at the Pascagoula site. They have two other facilities in Texas.
In 2006, Signal International recruited skilled workers from India and sponsored them for H2B Visas to supplement its labor force in Mississippi and Texas, which had diminished since Hurricane Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005.



PASCAGOULA --
Signal spent over $7 million constructing state of the art housing complexes for these workers due to damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita to residential property. The housing complexes also contain galley and mess facilities fully catered with Indian cuisine, laundry and washing facilities, as well as recreational facilities with big screen televisions, pool tables and computers with Internet access.
Signal recruited over 500 workers, believing that this would be a win-win both for Signal and the workers. Signal would increase its number of skilled workers to fulfill its customers' needs while at the same time it would be helping these skilled workers by providing them with good jobs that would pay them above the prevailing wages for their skills and significantly greater wages than they could earn in their home country.
The vast majority of the workers whom Signal had sponsored for H2B visas and recruited have made baseless and unfounded allegations against Signal concerning their employment and living conditions. Signal vehemently denies these allegations.
As a direct result of these baseless and unfounded allegations, Signal's employment practices and facilities have been inspected by representatives of the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and (the) Department of State. Signal has also invited journalists to inspect its housing complex. All of them have found that Signal's practices and facilities are more than adequate and they all appear to have concluded that the complaints that they have received were without any foundation whatsoever.
Signal conducts all its operations to the highest standards and in full compliance with the law. Signal's employment and housing of its H2B workers is no exception. The H2B employees are paid in excess of the prevailing rate for their skills and they receive the same pay and benefits as do Signal's other employees. Complaints about the quality of the housing complex Signal constructed for these workers are unfounded.
Signal respects the right of its former employees to demonstrate but maintains that the allegations being made against Signal, its employment practices and housing complex conditions are simply untrue. Signal has no further comment.