Ship breaking industry earning Billions annually is being ignored by the Government institutions.              Labour Education ( November 2011)

 On 27^th September a seminar was held in Karachi on the topic of working conditions and rights of workers of the Gaddani Ship Breaking Industry. A large number of workers and trade union representatives related to this industry participated in the seminar. Gaddani’s 15km beach holds the country’s only ship breaking industry which started its working in 1967. Spread over 127 plots, annually 140 ships from around the world are brought here for breaking. The steel extracted makes a sizeable contribution in meeting country’s steel demand. Other metals include aluminium and bronze. More than 15000 workers are forced to work in poor conditions. The profit earned from this industry is in billions but the workers associated with this profession are ignored and never given due recognition. Labour laws are not implemented in this industry. Though they have been associated with the profession since 20 years but they are not given appointment letters. Due to this they are unable to get social security benefits. Workers work for 12 to 14 hours on minimum wages. Though the work is quite injurious to health but no personal protective equipments are provided to them. More than 100 workers including numerous have been injured during the course of work. They are denied of any access to clean water, health facilities and electricity.