Jonathan Moraes looks like any other person from India you will find living in the United States – but that is where the similarity ends. The normally cheerful Moraes has a pained, haunted look in his eyes - he is part of the group of 53 Indian workers who were brought to Tulsa to live and work in near-slavery conditions for a manufacturing company – the 40 odd remaining members of the group are now unemployed, unsure of their future and crammed into a donated house on the outskirts of Tulsa.
This sordid story started for Moraes in Mumbai, India – the twenty-something father of a young son had been working at a reputable manufacturing company, Godrej, for about 4 years as a fitter. He found out about a “lucrative” opportunity to work in the United States from friends and applied for the position with a travel agency based in Mumbai. After undergoing several interviews and paying high “fees” to the travel agency, he was selected to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma to work at the John Pickle Company. He quit his job at Godrej, excited about working in the U.S. and saving some money to buy a house for his family.
The John Pickle Company was established in Tulsa in 1972 and is in the business of manufacturing pressure vessels. Last year, the company opened an operation in Kuwait to manufacture and provide similar products.
However, things started looking less rosy as Moraes left India in late December, 2001 – he was sent to work at the Kuwait plant of the John Pickle Company, and the visa on his passport said “Training”, with “open” dates. Five days later, he was put on a plane to Tulsa, where the true nightmare began.
Moraes joined a group of over fifty workers from all over India, who had been promised opportunities to work and make money for their families, and brought to Tulsa under the B1/B2 visa for “training”. They were housed in an old warehouse converted to a dormitory on the John Pickle Company’s plant, and made to sleep, cook and eat there. They had inadequate supply of drinking water, the cheapest possible food and they were allowed limited contact with the outside world. In fact, a notice posted on the dormitory door stated that they were not allowed to go anywhere without permission - they were apparently locked up inside the dormitory over Thanksgiving and Christmas when the plant was closed.
To add insult to injury, they were paid between $2 and $3 on average – Moraes’ salary was $450 a month after deducting $50 for food, for working 11 hours a day – far below the Federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. In addition, the Company kept their passports for “safekeeping”, restricting the mobility of the workers. The five people that complained about the food and living conditions were put on a plane to be deported under the supervision of Tulsa Sheriff’s deputies and a security guard of the John Pickle Company.
A Silver Lining
The Hale Pentecostal Church sits across from the John Pickle Company – that is where a few of the workers managed to connect with the congregation. One of the congregation members, Mark Massey, came to know of their plight in late January 2002 and offered to help. Massey helped the workers determine their legal rights from an attorney, as well as worked with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to determine the fate of the five “deported” workers – who were eventually taken off the plane at Atlanta.
The workers were by now scared and helpless – they had been told finally that they would be sent back to India after six months – and most of them paid a lot of money in fees to the travel agency, which would be lost. In addition, the jobs they had left behind in India were now not available to them.
Massey was the angel in their hour of need – he and his family moved out from his house and made it available for anyone who wanted to leave the Pickle Company – he and his friends and family arranged for food, bedding and other needed articles. In addition, he contacted the various civic and non-profit agencies and the media – the story was picked up by the local NBC afiiliate in Tulsa – and finally on February 5th, 2002, the workers walked out of the John Pickle Company plant to their new home.
Mr. Pickle and the officers of his company insisted during television interviews that the workers were actually the employees of the Indian travel agency, training at his plant – and denied any wrong doing.
The Forty One Roommates
Its hard to imagine forty one people living in a house less than 5000 sq. feet – but that’s what’s happening in Tulsa. The forty one remaining workers live in the house – they cannot do paid work because they don’t have work permits – so they try to pass the time by working for non-profits like the Red Cross and watching television.
Almost all of them say they would rather be working – they are used to hard work and this forced unpaid vacation has got them nervous and depressed.
The word of their plight is getting out – American Airlines, one of the biggest employers in the area, has a company-wide 200 member Indian Employees Resource Group – an email was circulated to this group, resulting in collection of donations and visits by the Tulsa based workers to the house. The Asian American Network Association of Oklahoma, as well as the local Indian Association, other non-profit associations and volunteers also got involved and are arranging for necessities like transportation, food, books, medicines, phone cards, etc.
The effort has crossed State boundaries too – India Association of North Texas (IANT), a Dallas based non-profit organization representing around 80,000 Indians in the North Texas area, recently set up a fund for the Tulsa workers. A few of its officers and volunteers drove several hours to meet the workers to boost their morale and took with them monetary donations and several hundred pounds of grocery items donated by the area’s Indian grocery stores.
The Wait Continues
The fate of the workers is in limbo – some pro-bono attorneys are working with them to file their applications for visa change with INS. The John Pickle Company is being investigated by OSHA, as well as a civil suit has been filed against the Company by the group regarding the low wages.
A communiqué issued by the John Pickle Company to its customers states that “in order to ensure that this situation will have no effect on our normal business routine, we have formed a "buffer" group that has been established outside of the mainstream business to handle all matters associated with the issue. Therefore, you should see no differences in your routine dealings with us and this issue should be transparent to you”.
Indian organizations like IANT (iant.org) are discussing ways among their leadership to see what other help can be provided to the workers in Tulsa, in addition to collection of funds.
Word is also getting to the workers families in India – and that is making them even more concerned and depressed. Massey spends his time daily trying to transport groups of workers to their various appointments, as well as coordinating relief efforts with the various agencies.
This appears to be another instance of deception of gullible workers by travel agencies in India (where advertisements for the next batch of workers for working in the U.S. have already appeared), as well as corporate greed overriding basic human rights.
