The International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers and its Administrative District Council of New Jersey (BAC) along with the Pathar Gadhai Mazdoor Suraksha Sangh (PGMSS), a labor union representing more than 3,000 stone carvers in the state of Rajasthan, India... stand in solidarity with the 200+ brave stonemasons from India who are taking action to address egregious abuses they have faced while constructing the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir.

... According to eyewitness accounts given to the PGMSS, six months ago, after a worker named Mohanlal sickened and died on the job in New Jersey his fellow workers began to organize. They stopped work in protest and refused to return to a workplace they knew to be unhealthy and unsafe. The protest leaders were fired and forcibly returned to India.

... In their legal filing... the workers allege shocking levels of wage theft, coercion and fraud by an employer who lied to them and to the US government, claiming that they were religious “volunteers” who did not seek or expect pay in return for their skilled labor... We call on government agencies at all levels to protect these workers, restore their stolen wages, and enforce all relevant labor standards at this jobsite... We call on the State Department/USCIS to prevent further abuse of the Religious Worker Visa program that results in the improper classification and abuse of workers, and we call on Department of Labor and OSHA to rigorously enforce established wage, labor and safety laws and standards on every jobsite in this country and for the protection of every worker in this country.