The vast international support the workers' hunger strike for justice against the labor trafficking chain of Signal International and its recruiters is clear from the guests at Wednesday's rally, which were to include:

US Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Indian Member of Parliament S.K. Kharaventhan (Palani, Tamil Nadu, Congress Party)
CPI Politboro member and head of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions M.K. Pandhe
Jon Hiatt, General Counsel of US labor federation AFL-CIO
John Flynn, President of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
In addition, US labor rights group Jobs With Justice will hold solidarity actions in 10 cities across the US. Last week, Jobs With Justice members wrote over 9,000 letters to US Congress in support of the workers.

The workers will stress, however, that their victory is not yet complete, as the Department of Justice has failed to release them from the terror of deportation by granting them continued presence in the US to participate in the official investigation into their case.

"We are shocked that for all the bravery we have shown in escaping Signal's labor camps, sacrificing our ability to work or be with our families for the sake of bringing the company and its recruiters to justice, and risking our lives with a hunger strike, the Department of Justice has turned a deaf ear to us," said Rajan Pazhambalakode, a former Signal Worker who is now an organizer with the Indian Workers' Congress.

"We have faith, however, that the allies who heard us in US Congress, organized labor, and civil rights and religious communities will help us continue to build power and increase the moral pressure on the Department of Justice until it offers us the protection we need," Mr. Pazhambalakode said.

Shortly after the workers break their fast Wednesday, a delegation of 10 allies will enter the DoJ and demand a meeting with US Attorney General Michael Mukasey, calling on him to respond to the workers' demand for continued presence.

The hunger strike followed nearly 18 months of organizing by the workers, who paid US and Indian recruiters up to $20,000 apiece for false promises of permanent residency and green cards. Instead they received 10-month temporary H2B guest worker visas and worked at Signal's Gulf Coast shipyards under deplorable conditions.

The workers escaped Signal's labor camps in March 2008 and made a 10-day "journey for justice," largely on foot," from New Orleans to Washington, DC. They launched their hunger strike on May 14 to demand temporary legal status in the US, Congressional hearings into abuses of guest workers, and talks between the US and Indian governments to protect future guest workers.

"The Department of Justice, like the Indian government, has remained cold while these workers have taken extraordinary risks to open the world's eyes to the reality of guest worker programs," said Saket Soni, workers' advocate and director of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice. "This suspension of the hunger strike gives both one last chance to fulfill their responsibility to combat the brutal reality of human trafficking."

The Indian Workers' Congress is an affiliate of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice.

Follow the workers' story on text and photo blog: www.neworleansworkerjustice.org.

WHAT: Indian labor trafficking survivors' rally in front of the Department of Justice
WHEN: Wednesday, June 11, 2008, 12 noon EDT
WHERE: Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
CONTACT: Stephen Boykewich, Media Director, New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice, spboykewich@gmail.com, US Mob. +1-504-655-0876