A year after the Signal strike, Guest Worker organizing continues in Mississippi and Louisiana.
---------------------------------Shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hundreds of Indian welders and fitters were trafficked to the Gulf Coast. For a hefty fee of $20,000, the recruiters promised the workers good jobs, permanent residency, and a chance to bring their families to the US. Workers sold their homes, took high-interest loans, and plunged their families into debt to pay for the American Dream.
When they arrived they discovered that all of the promises that had been made to them were false. They learned that in fact there were no green cards for them: they would not receive permanent status and they would remain separated from their families. Surely this was better than the way they had lived in India they were told, but many of the workers had worked in several countries and the accommodations here were the worst of all.
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