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

On 27th 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.
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