'US is following Indian workers' protest'

hough the States Department is following the issue of protest by the Indian workers of a Mississippi-based firm, it cannot take a position on a legal dispute between an employer and an employee, a senior official has said.

"We are following this matter closely, the Department of State does not comment on specific visa cases, nor can we take a position in a legal dispute between an employer and an employee," Department's spokesperson, Sean McCormack said while briefing the media on Thursday at Foggy Bottom.

When asked if the Department was assisting the protesting Indian workers who had come to work for Signal International, a Mississippi-based firm, on a 10-month work visa after allegedly paying USD 20,000 to a contracted job recruiter, he said, "We have referred the workers' complaints to the appropriate government agencies."

The Indian shipyard workers, who claim to be victims of modern day slavery, said they were tricked into coming to the US under the H2-B guest workers programme on a false promise of permanent residency and were forced to live under inhuman conditions.

Accusing the Indian government of abandoning them, the workers have sought the help of the United Nations. They had earlier met Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen last month after a 1,500-km march from New Orleans and demanded a CBI probe, saying they would not leave the country without getting justice for themselves and others placed in the same condition.

"We spent three hours relating our tales to the Indian Ambassador and other embassy officials in Washington and were ultimately told that they could act only within the protocol," a worker said, asserting they only wanted the Indian and US governments to work together to find a solution.

Signal International had said it had fired the recruiter after it learnt of its misconduct but denied the workers' charges that they were being treated as slaves as "baseless and unfounded".