Guest workers file more suits against US firm

HOUSTON (AP) — More lawsuits have been filed against a Mobile, Ala.-based marine and fabrication company being accused of financially exploiting dozens of Indian guest workers.

The workers say they were forced to live in squalid conditions after being brought to work at Gulf Coast shipyards by Signal International LLC following 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

The Southern Poverty Law Center announced Thursday five more lawsuits on behalf of 60 workers were filed this week against the company in federal courts in East Texas and Mississippi.

Three other federal lawsuits were filed in May on behalf of 83 people.

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A Signal International attorney did not immediately return an email seeking comment. But the company in a June news release called the claims “exaggerated” and said it had treated the workers with “dignity and respect.”