Where Ships and Workers Go To Die

The National Labor Committee 3

The filming of the shipbreaking yards was primarily the work of Mr. M.N. Darpon, an independent television producer in Bangladesh along with his camera-man Mr. Bakiul Alam. Additional filming and still photos were done by Barbara

Briggs and by the shipbreaking workers themselves, who used their cell phones.

The report could never have been researched and written without the close col-laboration and partnership of both the national and local offices of the Bangla-desh Center for Worker Solidarity and in particular Mr. Babul, Ms. Kalpona Akther and Mr. Farid. Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), a Bangladeshi NGO based in Chittagong, broke the ground and is responsible for the most serious ongoing research and advocacy in the shipbreaking yards. The International Metalworkers Federation has also been a powerful advocate for the shipbreakers in both India and Bangladesh.

Research for the National Labor Committee report was conducted by Charles Kernaghan, Barbara Briggs, Jonathann Giammarco and Carlow University student interns Elana N. Szymkowiak and Francesca Michelle Lies.

The National Labor Committee’s video on shipbreaking was edited and produced by Scott Weaver. Design of the report was the work of Aaron Hudson. The United Steelworkers Union provided enormous support, both for the research and writing of the report and, more importantly, in solidarity with the brave shipbreakers of Bangladesh.

National Labor Committee5 Gateway Center, 6th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Telephone: (412) 562-2406Fax: (412) 562-2411

Email: [email protected]

4 Where Ships and Workers Go to Die: Shipbreaking in Bangladesh

• Some of the world’s largest decommissioned tanker ships—measuring up to 1,000 feet long, twenty stories high and weighing 25 million pounds—have been run up on the beaches of Bangladesh. In July of 2009, 112 tanker ships were strewn over four miles of beach.

• Thirty thousand Bangladeshi workers, some of them children just 10, 11, 12 and 13 years of age, toil 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for wages of just 22 to 32 cents an hour, doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

• According to estimates by very credible local organizations, 1,000 to 2,000 workers have been killed in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards over the last 30 years. Currently, a worker is seriously injured every day, and a worker is killed every three to four weeks.

• On September 5, 2009, 35-year-old Mr. Hossain was burned to death while breaking apart a South Korean tanker at the Kabir Steel Yard. Twenty-year old Mr. Ashek remains in critical condition, while three other workers were seriously burned. Their blowtorches struck a gas tank which exploded, engulfing them in flames.

• It is common for workers to be paralyzed or crushed to death by heavy metal plates falling from the ship. A 13-year old child, Nasiruddin Molla, was killed on July 14, 2008, when a large iron plate struck him in the head at the Sultana shipyard. Accidents and even some deaths are not reported, and there is never an investigation.

• Each ship contains an average of 15,000 pounds of asbestos and ten to 100 tons of lead paint. Ship-breaking workers are routinely exposed to asbes-tos, lead, mercury, arsenic, dioxins, solvents, toxic oil residues and carcinogenic fumes from melting metal and lead paint. Environmental damage to Bangladesh’s beaches, ocean and fishing villages has been massive.

• Helpers, often children, who go barefoot or wear flip flops, use hammers to break apart the asbestos in the ship, which they shovel into bags to carry outside and dump in the sand.

• Workers lack even the must rudimentary protec-tive gear. Cutters, who use blowtorches to cut the giant ships to pieces, wear sunglasses rather than protective goggles, baseball caps rather than hard-hats, wrap dirty bandanas around their nose and mouth as they are not provided respiratory masks and wear two sets of shirts rather than a welder’s vests, hoping the sparks will not burn through to their skin, which happens every day.

• Four to six workers share each small, primitive room, often sleeping right on the dirty concrete floor. No one has a mattress. In some of the hovels, the roof leaks when it rains, so workers have to sit up at night covering themselves with pieces of plastic. Their “shower” is a hand water pump.

• Every single labor law in Bangladesh and every one of the International Labor Organization’s inter-nationally recognized workers rights standards are blatantly violated on a daily basis. While forced to work overtime, the shipbreaking workers receive no overtime premium. There are no weekly holidays, no paid sick days, no national holidays or vaca-tions. Any worker asking for his proper wages is immediately fired.

• The shipbreaking workers are very clear on two points: that they will die early and that there have been no improvements whatsoever over the last thirty years in respect for worker rights laws or health and safety.

• The global institutions which direct world trade have miserably failed workers across the develop-ing world who continue to be injured, cheated, maimed, paralyzed and killed on a daily basis. The G-20 countries, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, the International Maritime Organiza-tion and the International Labor Organization must be held accountable.

Where Ships and Workers Go to Die:Global Trade Rules Fail to Protect the Most Basic Worker Rights

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSeptember 2009


Executive Summary 04

Preface by Charles Kernaghan: If there is a Hell, This is It 06

1.) Workers Are Injured, Maimed and Killed In Bangladesh’s ShipbreakingYards- Worker Burned to Death at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard 08- A Dead Worker Is Worth $1,400 08- Now I Am Sick and Starving; Life Is Cheap in the Shipbreaking Yards 09- Young Worker Paralyzed; Shipyard Owners Refuse to Help 11- A Ship Explodes, two workers die, more than ten injured 13- Eighteen-year-old Worker Crushed to Death 13- Crippled on the Job and Discarded without a Cent 14- Eighteen-year-old Worker Crushed on Greek Ship 15 - A Shipyard of Death: Mamun Enterprise 16

2.) Portrait of Shipbreakers: Two Experienced Cuttermen 18

3.) A Day in the Life of “Lucky” Shipbreakers 20

4.) The Jiri Subedar Shipbreaking Yard 28

5.) Shipbreakers Exposed Daily to Deadly Toxic Wastes 30

6.) A Worker Dies Every Month in the Shipbreaking Yards 32

7.) The Ambia Shipbreaking Yard 34

8.) Let’s Send the Child Workers to School 38

9.) Mamun Enterprise Shipyard 39

10.) Bhatiary Steel Shipbreaking Yard 40

11.) Khaja Shipmaster Trading Shipbreaking Yard 42

12.) Kabir Shipbreaking Yard 44

13.) Lists of U.S. and Chinese Ships being broken in Bangladesh 45

14.) Conclusion: What Should Be Done? 46

APPENDICES– Interview with Syeda Rizwana Hasan, BELA 48– Key Organizations 49

Table of Contents


It is one of the strangest, most striking and frightening industrial sites in the world. It is large enough to be seen from space, but remains an open secret which few American people have even heard of, let alone seen. If there is a hell on earth, this is it. In Bangladesh, 30,000 shipbreaking workers are dismantling some of the largest de-commissioned tanker ships in the world—20 stories high, 650 to over 1,000 feet long, 95 to 164 feet wide, which have been run up on the

beach in the Bay of Bengal, not far from the city of Chittagong. In July, the National Labor Committee counted 112 tanker ships stretching across nearly four miles of beaches.

The shipbreakers do some of the most dangerous jobs in the world, toil-ing 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for wages of just 22 to 32 cents an hour, handling and breathing in dangerous toxic waste with no safeguards whatsoever and under conditions that violate every local and internation-al labor law. Injuries happen every day—some are paralyzed for life—and a worker dies every three or four weeks. No one helps them. The workers say a dog means more to the business owner than a human being.

This is the story of the Bangladeshi shipbreakers, mostly young men, but also child workers who are just 10, 11, 12, and 13 years old. This has been going on for more than 30 years, and in all that time, the workers are cer-tain of two things—they will die early, and nothing at all has changed in the last three decades.

The G-20 leaders are meeting in Pittsburgh this year in late September. How is it that over the course of 30 years, the G-20 countries (and before that the G-7), the handful of powerful shipping nations and the compa-nies that dominate global merchant cargo trade, the International Mari-time Organization (IMO), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Bangladeshi government have not—individually and collectively—been able to implement a single improvement?

Make no mistake. The horrific sweatshop conditions in the shipbreak-ing yards are not a stepping stone to the middle class. Rather, the ship-breaking yards are the final cycle of the Race to the Bottom in the global sweatshop economy, and the reality is not pretty. Workers, including children, use hammers to break up the 15,000 pounds of asbestos in every

If There Is a Hell on Earth, This Is ItPREFACE by Charles Kernaghan


ship and then dump it on the sand to wash out to sea. The environment is being destroyed. And life is cheap. A young worker whose back was broken when a heavy piece of metal fell from the ship and struck him lies paralyzed, unable to even sit up or control his bowels. He just lies there. The owner of the shipyard gave him $1,800 and walked away.

These are in fact the most dangerous jobs in the world. But unlike in the popular TV series, there is nothing romantic or exciting here. What is going on is the cruel and criminal exploitation of young workers in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. Four to six workers share each primitive room, often sleeping on a filthy concrete floor. No one can afford a mattress.

It does not have to be this way. The workers’ demands are so modest, it should make us blush. Their dream is to earn 60 cents an hour, to be paid the legal overtime premium, to have one day off each week, sick days, holidays, healthcare for workers injured on the job and the right to organize. It would cost less than $750 a year to send a child worker back to school—where they belong—to cover books, uniforms and a stipend to replace their lost wages. This should not be a very hard. We can help these workers climb out of misery and at least into poverty.

It is the job of international solidarity to push the G-20 world leaders, the major shipping nations and cor-porations, the IMO and the ILO to finally guaran-tee the rule of law and to end the abuse and ex-ploitation in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. When it comes to protecting and promoting worker rights in the global economy, nothing will improve without activism and struggle.


Mr. Jahagir Alam had worked at the Jiri Subader Shipbreaking Yard for four

years, starting work there in 2004. Jahagir was an experienced senior “cutter”, operating a blowtorch all day, cutting apart the giant beached tankers. Early on August 12, 2008, he and his helper were as-signed to work in an area very near to where a huge metal plate from the ship was suspended above by a wire cable. The cable snapped, and Mr. Jahagir was crushed and

trapped under the huge metal plate. Critically injured, he clung to life for 26 days, but the doctors said there was no hope for him, and he died on September 6, 2008. His helpers were luckier. One worker’s leg was so badly crushed that it had to be amputated. The other worker’s hand was crushed and is now paralyzed. But both lived.

Mr. Jahagir’s mother, Mrs. Nurjahan Begom, told us: “When my son was working in the shipyard, an

A Dead Worker is Worth $1,400

On Saturday morning, Sep-tember 5, 2009 at 9:00 a.m., 35-year-old Mr. Hossain was

burned to death while breaking apart a huge Korean tanker ship at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard. A second worker, Mr. Ashek, 20 years old, is in critical condition and just barely clinging to life. Three other

workers, Md Kuddus, 32, Jahangir, 28, and Khokon, 22, also suffered serious burns and are in the Burn Unit of the Chittagong Medical Col-lege Hospital.

The workers were breaking apart a Korean tanker using blowtorches when their flames cut through a tank which was filled with gas and gas vapors. There was a large explosion and all five workers were trapped in an inferno of flames.

Twenty-five year old Mr. Masud was killed at the Kabir Steel yard on No-vember 14, 2008. He was struck by a heavy piece of falling metal and died on the way to the hospital.

The workers at Kabir told us, “We have no security in our lives.”

Worker Burned to Death at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard

A second worker is in critical condition, clinging to life.Three others seriously burned.


“My son will never come back to this world.I cry every day to Allah that no other parents lose their son.”- Mother of Jahagir Alam

iron plate fell on him. Another two workers were also injured. One of them had his leg crushed and an-other his hand fractured. They are alive, but my son will never come back to this world. I cry every day to Allah that no other parents lose their son.”

Mrs. Begom begged the shipyard owner for help to bury her son, but there was no response. It was only with the help of a lawyer and after a long struggle that the manage-ment of Jiri Subader shipyard paid the family 100,000 taka, or $1,453.

It’s a cheap price for a worker’s life.

Mr. Jahagir’s father also died, years before, working in a shipbreaking yard.

In the shipbreaking yards in Bangla-desh, every single labor law as well as the International Labor Organi-zation’s internationally recognized worker rights standards are violat-ed. Nor are even the most minimal health and safety standards en-forced. Under such circumstances, it is cost effective for the shipyard owners to continue to kill and maim the workers.

Life is Cheap for Shipyard Owners“Now I am Sick and Starving.”

After paying about $3,000, Mr. Lokman, the owner of the Jiri Subedar Shipbreaking

Yard, walked away from a young man who was badly burned when a gas tank he was cutting burst into flames. Mr. Halim, just 26 years old, suffered extensive burns to his

head, hands, back and thighs. His left ear was so badly burned that it is disfigured, and he is now partially deaf. He also needs help walk-ing. While working one of the most dangerous jobs on the ship, he was paid just 24 cents an hour. Without money for medical treatment he

1 0 Where Ships and Workers Go to Die: Shipbreaking in Bangladesh

told us. “Now I am sick and starv-ing.” Accidents in the shipyards, a daily occurrence, are never record-ed or investigated. It is believed that serious accidents occur every day.

Testimony of Abdul Halim

“My name is Abdul Halim, I am 26 years old, son of Khurshid Alam. “I worked at the Subedar Yard owned by Mr. Lokman. I worked there for a year as a helper. I

worked inside the ship and got paid Tk. 130 for working 8 hours. I worked 12 hours a day including 4 hours over-time. [He earned 24 cents an hour, $2.83 for a 12-hour shift. Ille-gally, the workers were not paid the overtime premium.] We got paid every 15 days. It was not possible for me to

work 30 days a month. I worked 22-25 days a month because ship-breaking is such hard labor. I started working at 7:00 in the morning and finished work at 7:00 in the evening. There was a thirty-minute break at 10:00 a.m. for tea and a lunch break from 1:00 to 2:00. I also worked on Fridays—then I had to work from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and sometimes until 12:00 noon. “I had to carry my lunch with me, which was prepared at home in the early morning. It got rotten as it was very hot in the shipyard. Sometimes I suffered from diar-rhea from eating spoiled food. The company did not provide any refreshment.

“On Wednesday, February, 18, 2009, after taking my break, I resumed work at 10:30 a.m. My (boss) a cutter man, Mr. Liton, and I went down to the ship to cut a gas tank there. I was throw-ing water on the tank to stop the sparks. Sometimes it goes on fire. After five minutes, I saw a big gas flame shoot out from the open-ing that was cut. The flame set fire to my hands, back, thigh and ear. The flesh of my legs was seri-ously burned by the flames. “The cutter man, Mr. Liton, and I both got burned. My ear, chest, thigh and part of my body was burned. I passed out. When I came to, I realized that I was in hospital. Later, I heard that the other workers got us admitted to Chittagong Medical College hospital. I was released from the hospital on August 12, 2009. I was in the hospital for almost six months. For the first three months, the company took the responsibility for medical bills and medicines, spending Tk. 1,500

“…I saw a big gas flame shoot out from the opening that was cut. The

flame set fire to my hands, back, thigh and ear. The flesh of my legs

was seriously burned by the flames.” - Mr. Abdul Halim


[$21.80] daily. For the last three months the company reduced the payment, spending Tk.1,000 [$14.53] daily.

“The company is refusing to pay any medical expenses now that I am released from the hospital. I have not fully recovered and the doctor recommended that I remain in bed for another two to three months. My medical treatment is now stopped as I can’t afford to buy medicine or nutritious food. My father is an old man and can’t work and my mother works in neighbor’s house to support our lives. I am married but my wife has aban-doned me due to my present condition. My mother took a loan from the neighbors for my treatment. Now I am sick and am starving.”

Notes: Mr. Halim was hospitalized for 176 days, for which the owner spent 227,500 taka--$3,307 or less. Now the owner is refusing to pay a penny more. His burns still require clean dressings, which need to be changed every day or two. He needs help to walk and to use the bathroom. He is very frail and weak and spends most of his time in bed. He may never be able to work again.

The cutter, Mr. Liton, was relatively lucky and suffered burns only on his face. He has recovered and is back at work.

(See full report on the Jiri Subedar Shipbreaking Yard on page 28.)

Young Worker ParalyzedShipyard Owners Refuse to Help

Mr. M. Nezam Uddin worked cutting apart huge tanker ships at the Mahim En-

terprise Shipbreaking Yard, which is owned by Mr. Mahim and Mr. Laskor.

On the morning of April 2, 2007, Mr. Nezam Uddin and his helper, Mr. Abdul Mannan, were working inside the ship using blow torches to cut apart a huge ballast tank, which weighed 300 or so tons. When his blow torch ran out of oxygen, Mr. Nezam Uddin and his helper went outside to hook their hose up to a fresh oxygen cylinder. Suddenly, a large piece of metal weighing about 3,000 pounds came free from the ballast tank, smashing into

“His backbone is broken. Now my son cannot walk, cannot sit, cannot hold down food and cannot sleep. His life is full of pain. He cannot control his bowels and does everything in the bed… The contractor doesn’t want to give money. When I plead with them, they make excuses.”- Mother of Nezam Uddin


the oxygen tank and then striking Mr. Nezam Uddin on his back and head. His backbone was broken. Mr. Uddin cannot walk or get out of bed. He has no feeling in his back or his stomach and has no control over his bowels. He was just 25 years old.

Mr. Uddin started working in the Mahim Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard in 2006. He worked a minimum of

72 hours a week, earning $20.13, or 28 cents an hour, doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

The shipyard owners—very wealthy men—ignored the family’s pleas to their son. It took the family, with the help of a lawyer, one-and-a-half years to force the owners to take some responsibility for their son’s injury. The owners gave the family 125,000 taka—$1,817—and walked away. The $1,817 covered Mr. Uddin’s initial treatment, but that money is long gone, and his poor family is borrowing money to take care of him.

“His backbone is broken,” his moth-er said. “Now my son cannot walk, cannot sit, cannot hold down food, and cannot sleep. His life is full of pain. He cannot control his bowels and does everything in the bed… The contractor doesn’t want to give money. When I plead with them, they make excuses.”

Mr. Uddin told us, “I demand jus-tice for my condition, and I want to recover from my injury.”

The doctors at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital think there is a good chance to help Mr. Uddin. But the operation is so delicate that it should be done by specialists in India. The operation would cost 750,000 taka—$10,900—but the shipyard owners refuse to pay a cent.

Rather than pay the $10,900, they will let Mr. Uddin, 27 years old, rot in a bed, with no end in sight to his and his family’s misery.

To the shipyard owners, a worker’s life is not worth $10,900.

“I was struck and knocked down to the ground. I was unconscious. I was admit-

ted to the Chittagong Al Sattar Hospital… My back-

bone is broken and my head was injured. Now my bodily organs are not functioning.

I feel nothing in my chest or back. I cannot feel my stomach… I wish I could

move like I did before.”

- Nezam Uddin, Shipbreaking worker


In mid-June 2008, a large explo-sion on a ship being dismantled was caught on tape showing

heavy smoke billowing out of its hull. The workers on that ship were using blowtorches to cut apart a large gas tank. When flame from the blow torch cut through the tank, there was an explosion.

The explosion took place in the Mahim Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard, owned by Mr. Mahim and Mr. Laskor. Shipyard management said that no one died and that just two workers were injured in the blast.

However, a very credible local source told us that two workers died in the accident, and more than 10

workers were seriously injured. The source believes that management may have had the bodies thrown into the sea, a practice that was not uncommon a few years ago.

A Ship ExplodesTwo workers die and more than ten injured

Eighteen-year-old Worker Crushed to DeathMr. Touhid Hosain Babul, just

18 years old, was crushed to death at the M.M. Ship-

breaking Yard, which the workers call “Lucky,” on April 19, 2009, when a huge steel plate from the ship—weighing tons—suddenly fell on him as he was cutting it apart into small-er pieces. He was paid just 27 cents an hour. The shipyard owner gave the dead man’s family 160,000 taka ($2,325.58) and walked away. There was no investigation, and no steps were taken to institute even the most minimal safety measures. For the shipyard owners, taking the

“The steel plate fell on him, and the heavy load crushed him… The metal plate was pulled off by the machine [winch], and we saw that his appearance had changed. He was just smashed by the load…”

- Co-worker of Touhid Hosain Babul


life of a worker is cheap and easy.

Mr. Babul started working in the shipbreaking yards when he was just 14 years of age. He worked at the Lucky shipyard for two years before he was killed.

(See the full report on the M.M. Shipbreaking Yard, known as “Lucky,” on page xxx.)

“The steel plate fell on him and the heavy load crushed him. The plate was sup-posed to be secured so it could be cut from any side, but the load suddenly fell on him… The metal plate was pulled off by the machine [winch], and we saw that his appearance had changed. He was just smashed by the load… We all helped to get him out... to get the dead body out from under the load. It took an hour, from 12:00 midnight to 1:00 a.m. …Then it was dawn. We saw that the dead body was go-ing out through the gate…”-Lucky workers Mr. Babul is on the right, wearing a black shirt and

light blue jeans. This photo taken with his friend was taken shortly before his death

Crippled on the Job andDiscarded without a Cent

At first we thought he was an old woman, stooped over with a shawl thrown over his

shoulders and head despite the humid, 90-degree temperature. But he was a 32 year old man, who had just begun to work at the Bhatiary Steel Shipbreaking Yard. When we visited him and a group of workers from the yard in mid-February, he had just started working nine days earlier. He was hired as a helper, whose job it was to join a team that

carried heavy metal plates cut from the ship to a waiting truck. Some metal plates measure four or five feet wide by 15 or 16 feet long and are so heavy that it takes a dozen or more workers to lift and carry them on their shoulders. They step in unison to the rhythm of a team leaders’ chant. If they did not, the weight would crush them. In this case, five workers were assigned to carry a smaller plate of steel mea-suring about five feet long. They


hoisted it onto their shoulders, which were dressed with rags to cushion the weight, and started to walk. But the weight was too great, and they knew that if they waited the plate would crush them all. Four of the more experienced workers knew how to hoist and slip out from under the weight. The new worker thought he could do it as well, but he was a split second too late, and the full weight of several-hundred pound plate came down on his back before he was knocked aside. After that, he could not straighten himself back up again. He is per-manently bent over and in pain.

As a helper, he was paid 22 cents an hour and $2.64 for the routine 12-hour shift. As he had worked for four days prior to his injury, he earned a total of $10.56.

Management fired him, taking no responsibility for his injury. The ship-yard would not even pay for him to see a doctor. Nor was he offered any compensation. His co-workers

were taking care of him the best that they could. He was staying and sleeping in the dorm rooms, and the workers prepared food for him. The injured worker had no idea what he would do next with-out any money. His life had come crash-ing to a halt when he was 32 years old.

(See report on Bhatiary Shipbreak-ing Yard on page 40.)

Bent over from the heavy weight he was carrying and unable to straighten his back, a new worker was fired without medical care or any compensation.

Mr. Helal, 18 Years Old, Crushed to Death on April 11, 2009While Dismantling the Greek Ship, United Moonlight

For 27 years, the tanker United Moonlight delivered crude oil products around the world,

including to the United States. United Moonlight was owned by the Greek company, Marine Man-agement Services MC, which sold the ship for $3,495,018 to a Ban-gladeshi shipbreaking yard called Jomuna, owned by a Mr. Aladdin. The ship will be broken into scrap

and sold at a healthy profit. The huge ship—676 feet long, 108 feet wide and 20 stories high—now sits beached in the sands of the Bay of Bengal.

Hundreds of young workers go into the ship without even the most primitive protective gear or safety precautions to work 12 hours a day for 22 to 32 cents an hour


dismantling the ship under some of the most dangerous working condi-tions anywhere in the world.

On April 11, 2009, a huge metal plate fell from the United Moonlight ship, instantly crushing 18-year-old Mr. Helal to death.

When it was active, United Moonlight sailed under a Liberian flag of conve-

nience. This allowed the Greek shipping company to avoid Greek regulations and higher taxes and also to hire non-union workers from poor developing countries at less than half the wages and benefits as those in Greece.

Mr. Roise Uddin Mridha, 40 years old, worked as a “loader”

carrying heavy metal plates cut from the ship to waiting trucks. He was struck in the head by a falling piece of metal at 2:00 p.m. on June 2, 2008 and died on the way to the hospital.

Mr. Hannan, a cutter’s helper, was just 18 when he was

killed—in what the workers de-scribed as a “horrifying accident”—the night of June 16, 2008. Shipyard officials sent the dead man’s body

to his parents’ village that same night, without informing the police of his death.

Mr. Habibur Rubel Rahman, 25 years old, was killed at

midnight on June 27, 2008, when a heavy piece of metal he was cutting broke loose and crushed him to death. The shipyard owner gave his family 3,000 taka ($43.60) after their sons’ death. It was only under pressure from a local non-governmental organization—Young Power in Social Action (YPSA)—that

Shipyard of DeathAt Mamun Enterprise,

Three workers killed in a single month in June 2008,Another worker crushed to death in April 2009


the shipyard provided further com-pensation.

Mr. Belal, a 27-year-old senior cutter, was crushed to death

at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21, 2009. Mr. Belal was assigned to cut sheets of metal from the side of the ship. No safety precautions were taken to guarantee the security of the large steel plates being cut. Us-ing a blowtorch, Mr. Belal was more than half way through his cut when a huge piece of metal broke free, falling and crushing him to death.

The name of the shipbreaking yard where the workers were killed is Ma-mun Enterprise, also called S. Trad-ing Corporation, which is owned by a Mr. Shafi.

At the time of the work-ers’ deaths, they were cutting apart two huge ships, the SETA, a crude oil tanker measuring 796 feet long and 106 feet wide and the Gazelle, also a crude oil tanker, 748 feet long and 106 feet wide.

Before they were sold to the scrap yard, both ships were owned by shipping companies in the United Arab Emir-ates, Seta by Emirates Shipping Co. Ltd. and Gazelle by the Global Crown Shipping Co. LLC.

In the last year, Seta and Gazelle carried crude oil to ports in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, India, the Gulf and South East Asia.

(See full report on Mamun Enterprise on page 39.)


Portrait of ShipbreakersSenior cutters work one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, seven

days a week, while earning just 31 cents an hour. Sun glasses, a second shirt, a bandana and a cheap baseball cap are their only “safety gear.”

One Friday in February, we ran into two shipbreaking workers who had just fin-

ished an eight-hour shift, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., on what was sup-posed to be their weekly day off.

They were experienced cutters who had been working in the yards for 11 years.

They were completely filthy. Using a blowtorch, they cut the giant tank-er ships into pieces. Their work, they explained, was “absolutely danger-ous,” and it was “very common that workers die,” either from explosions, or from slipping and falling into the cavernous ship.

When they use their blowtorches to cut, the metal sparks from the flame

are flying everywhere. In addition to the heat, the melting iron and lead paint throw off a sickening stench which makes them dizzy. Most of all, they fear the explo-sions, which can happen if they cut through the metal and hit a pocket of gas vapor. And before they can even begin to work on the metal, they have to hammer away the asbestos.

Management does not provide any safety gear other than the cheapest pair of welding gloves. To protect themselves from the fly-ing sparks when they are using the blowtorch, they wear two sets of heavy shirts, hoping that the sparks will not burn through both layers. But it happens all the time. Their arms were full of burn marks and welts. They are sweating constant-ly, given the combination of 95-de-gree temperatures, high humidity and the heat of the blowtorches.

They buy cheap sunglasses to protect their eyes and wrap dirty bandanas around their mouths and noses to protect their faces and ward off the fumes and flying bits of asbestos.

Instead of hard hats, they wore cheap baseball caps. Rather than steel-tipped boots, they wore soft rubber “gum boots” that the owner takes from the ship and sells to the workers. The boots are far too big, and the Bangladeshi workers use cut up rags to wrap and pad their feet. Nonetheless, it is common for


the workers to get rashes and infec-tions since the rubber boots do not breathe.

The shipyard owner, they said, “doesn’t provide anything.”

These guys were great. They were thin, cocky and knew that they were good at what they did. Nor did they shy away from work, regu-larly putting in 13, 14 and 15-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00, 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. or even midnight. They worked seven days a week, includ-ing a four to eight or even ten-hour shift on Fridays, supposedly their day off. They were working over 80 hours a week and sometimes more. All overtime was obligatory. The workers were allowed an hour for lunch, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., and a half-hour break from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m.

For all their grueling and dangerous work, these senior cutters were paid just 31 cents an hour, or $4.02 for the normal 13-hour shift and a total of $25.33 for working an 82-hour week. All overtime is mandatory, but work-ers are not paid the legal overtime premium which is supposed to be paid as double time.

They told us that two weeks before, a piece of metal fell on a worker, breaking his leg. Three years ago, when the workers were cutting apart a boiler, it exploded and many died.

There were not many children in their shipyard, maybe fewer than a dozen 12 and 13-year olds worked their shift. The kids worked barefoot or in flip flops.

These workers received no national holidays, no religious Eid festivals, no May Day—nothing. There was

never a paid holiday. There was no healthcare, no vacation days and no contract. If they were hurt or killed, they could not even prove they worked at the yard.

The workers told us they had “no comfort, no life,” –which was a gross understatement.

Four workers slept in a small room, lying on the dirty concrete floor. No one had even a mattress. Like other worker hovels we have seen, their room had a paper-thin thatched roof which leaked when it rained. When it rains, they said, “we can’t sleep.” All they can do is to sit and try to cover themselves with rags or a light quilt.

When we asked if there was a union in the shipbreaking yard, they responded, “No. The company doesn’t want it and won’t accept it. For us it is a dream.”

They told us that the ships they dismantled came from Germany, Greece, Singapore and other countries.


A Day in the Life of “Lucky” Shipbreakers

There are a little over 1,000 work-ers at the M.M. Shipbreaking Yard—which almost everyone

calls “Lucky.” Currently, the yard is breaking down three huge tanker ships, each of which takes about six months to completely dismantle to be sold as scrap.

The yard operates 24 hours a day, running two 12-hour shifts. On the night shift, no one works inside the ships; rather, they work on the beach under glaring fluorescent lights.

On a hot and rainy July morn-ing, around 9:00 a.m., we had the chance to meet with a group of Lucky shipbreaking workers who had just come off the night shift. They had worked straight through, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., with just three short breaks—a half hour at 10:00 p.m., a ten-minute break at 2:00 a.m. when management pro-vides them with a cup of tea and a small biscuit, which the workers say costs the equivalent of about four cents, and a 15-minute rest period at 6:30 a.m. During the entire night, they get 55 minutes off.

Using winches and wire cables, a huge holding tank—the workers said it was the size of ten of their dorm rooms—had been dragged from the ship onto the sand and mud. Everyone was soaking wet from the rain, and sixteen work-ers were assigned to spend the entire night inside the holding tank, cutting it to pieces with their blowtorches. The tank, which was divided into several room-sized chambers, must have held oil. When we met with them that morning, the workers’ clothing was black with oil stains, and everyone smelled of oil.

M.M. Shipbreaking Yard (Lucky)Jahanabad

Sitakundo, Chittagong

“The environment is worse than a prison. We work here only to buy

food to survive. Otherwise, it is not a workplace fit for a human being.”


During our meeting, almost all of the workers were coughing and spitting black. Some went outside to vomit. We could hear cough-ing coming from the surrounding rooms. The workers said that inside the tank, there was a sharp, pun-gent stinking odor. Their eyes were watering. Their noses and throats were sore. They felt dizzy, and some were near passing out. A few workers tried chewing betel nuts to remove the acid taste in their mouths.

Inside the tank it is pitch dark ex-cept for the glare of their blow-torches. First, they had to knock off the asbestos, which was wrapped around the pipes and secured with wire. They used hammers to break the asbestos apart. Next, they marked the metal to note the sizes of the pieces they wanted to cut. They used their blowtorches to cut the metal, but since there were a lot of fumes inside the tank, they had to fear explosions. If they cut into a chamber with oil or gas fumes, there could be a flash fire or explosion.

It was not only the oil, but also the melting metal and lead paint that added to the deadly fumes. Sparks were flying everywhere from the blowtorches, and the temperature inside the tank soared. Already soaked from the night’s rain, they were also dripping in their own sweat.

The workers estimated that it would take two or three nights’ work to dismantle the chamber completely.

The shipbreakers do this work with no safety gear, no hard hats, no safety goggles or visors to protect against the glare and sparks, no welders vests and no respiratory

masks. Instead, the workers use sunglasses, baseball caps, ban-danas wrapped around their nose and mouth and two sets of shirts in hopes of preventing the sparks from their blowtorches from reach-ing their skin. However, all of them carried numerous scars from being burned.

The only safety gear management provides the workers are gloves, and those are only issued to the cutters who handle the blowtorch-es, not to their helpers or the junior workers.

Management sells the workers soft rubber boots that were collected from the ships. The workers are charged 400 taka ($5.81) for them. The boots are too large for the Ban-gladeshi workers, so they wrap their feet with torn pieces of dungarees. They have no socks, and since the rubber does not breathe, the work-ers’ feet stink and some get infec-tions.Three or four times a night, when

“I have seen many workers legs and hands broken. Many workers died.”


they cannot stand it anymore, several workers take turns sneaking outside to breathe. Outside they stand in the mud and clay, as it continues to rain.

The Lucky workers told us, “We have no life.”

Some child workers also work on the day and night shifts. A 16-year-old Lucky worker we met with esti-mated that there were around 15 child workers between the ages of 10 and 12 on his day shift. A similar number of kids worked at night.

The 16-year-old said inju-ries were common in the yard. In June, a heavy piece of metal fell on his foot, and he had to take four days off—without pay.

Another group of Lucky

workers thought there were about 100 young teenage workers be-tween the ages of 16 and 17 in the yard, along with children as young as ten.

Desperately impoverished hovels not fit for any human being:When the shipbreaking workers return “home” sometime after 8:30 a.m., having worked through the entire night, they need to wash off the oil, the stench of oil and gas clinging to their bodies, the asbestos dust and the grime, rust and mud. But these workers do not have showers or baths. They wash next to a manual water pump which they use to fill up small plas-tic buckets. They use these plastic buckets to wash themselves. The workers have to wait their turns since just two primitive water pumps serve 50 or more workers. The workers brush their teeth, wash their clothes and cook using water from the same pump. The water is not potable, but they drink it anyway.

The shipbreakers sleep four to each small, eight-by-12-foot room, with two workers sleeping on a hard wooden platform and the other two sleeping right on the dirty concrete floor. No one has a mat-tress, just some old rags and sheets, which the workers say are infested with bed bugs. The rooms reek of


desperate impoverishment. There is no air, no windows, just a single door. It is stiflingly hot and flies are everywhere. There is no TV, no radio, nothing, just some old clothes hanging from a string. There is no refrigeration. Food sits in open pots on the floor.

In each room, workers take turns preparing the food. The “kitchen” is a few pots on the floor in a corner with a tiny propane burner. Some workers are so exhausted they skip breakfast and go right to sleep. Those who stay awake eat the cheapest rice they can purchase, which is mixed with pieces of po-tato, vegetables like cabbage, and lentils. For these workers, eating meat, fish or chicken is only a thing of their dreams. The cheapest mut-ton costs $1.98 to $2.31 a pound, the equivalent of eight hours of work given that the workers are earning just 22 to 30 cents an hour. The only time they eat meat, the workers laughed, is during the two major religious Eid festivals when middle class people give food to the poor.

Living on $1.45 a day—in misery:A senior blowtorch cutter can earn 250 taka ($3.63) for a 12-hour shift,

which comes to 30 cents an hour.

The Lucky workers told us they try to survive on 100 taka ($1.45) a day. That has to cover rent for their room, electricity, the cheapest food and lunch or supper at work.

The workers cannot even afford to buy used shirts or pants, and they cling to their rags as long as they can.

The workers deny themselves every-thing so they can save money and send their families the equivalent of $2.18 a day. They work 12 hours a day under grueling and dangerous conditions to do this.

We asked, do they ever see a doc-tor? “We can’t afford food,” they responded, “so how are we go-ing to see a doctor and purchase medicines?” Seeing a doctor costs at least 300 taka, $4.36—which is more than 14 hours’ wages for even senior cutters, who earn just 30 cents an hour.

“We are fighting with death always. This is not work. This is a place of punishment and death.”


“It is common here to get injured” the workers explained. We know the workers had no health care coverage, even for serious work-related accidents. So what do the workers do? “If injured,” they explained, “at best, a worker might get one day off, one day’s leave with pay, and only sometimes will management give you medicines. Usually we have to purchase our own antiseptic solutions. And work-ers never get paid for a second day off, no matter how badly they are hurt.”

We asked them what they did for fun. Their response was: “We have no time for fun. Sleep is our only fun.” “If we don’t work, we don’t get paid.”

To work in the shipyard, they went on, “is to invite death.”

“Here a dog is more important than a human being.”

“After a cow ploughs for one or two hours, they have to be fed. But not us. We have to work 12 to 14 hours with nothing.”

Seven Day Workweek The shipyards operate around the clock, on two 12-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. On Fridays, sup-posedly the workers’ weekly holi-day, they work four hours, from 7:00 to 11:00.

If they do not work, they do not get paid. The shipbreaking workers live on the edge. “If we are healthy, we can survive. If we get sick and can’t work, we cannot live.”

The workers’ goal is to work every day of the month, but the work is grueling, hard and dangerous, and they get sick and injured. On average, most workers take three Fridays off a month. This puts the workers at the shipyards for an aver-age of 73 hours a week.

Some of the Lowest Wages in the World for some of the most Dangerous Work:

22 to 30 cents an hourThe cutters’ helpers earn 15 taka (22 cents) an hour—$2.62 for the routine 12-hour shift. Illegally—and it has been going on for over 30


years in broad daylight—no ship-yard owner pays the legal overtime premium, which is supposed to be twice the normal wage. The help-ers carry or roll the heavy metal tanks of oxygen and liquid gas for the cutters. They also wield ham-mers all day, banging and chipping away at the rust as the cutters mark the metal and cut it to the right size.

Relatively new cutters—who handle the blowtorches—are paid 16.7 taka (24 cents) an hour and $2.91 for their 12 hours of work. Senior cutters with many years experience are paid 20.83 taka (30 cents) an hour and $3.63 for the obligatory 12-hour shift.

The very highest wage—which only the most senior and experienced cutters earn—is 22.92 to 25 taka (33 to 36 cents) an hour--$4.00 to $4.36 for the 12-hour shift.

The workers say there is no relation-ship between the dangerous and grueling work that they do and the pitifully low wages they are paid.

Such Modest Demands: Workers Dream of Earning 55 Cents an HourThe shipbreaking workers at the Lucky yard know better then any-one that Bangladesh is a very poor country. Some workers even know that in the United States or Europe, workers doing similar jobs can earn in an hour what the Bangladeshi workers earn in a week, or two, or

three. Still, their “demands” are so modest that one would think the shipyard owners would blush with shame—along with the ten wealthy shipping countries that dominate the world’s cargo trade, the hand-ful of major shipping companies, the International Labor Organiza-tion and the International Maritime Organization.

The shipbreakers’ dream is for cut-ters to earn 300 taka for eight hours work, that is, $4.36 for the legal regular shift, or 55 cents an hour. Helpers dream of earning 200 taka ($2.91) for the regular eight-hour shift, or 36 cents an hour.

It is not a lot of money, but for the workers it would allow them to climb out of misery and into poverty where they and their families could survive with a modicum of dignity.

As things stand now, even a se-nior cutter earns just 30 cents an hour and $3.63 for the manda-tory 12-hour shift. If these workers’ wages were modestly increased to just 55 cents an hour, and they were paid the legal overtime premium of 100 percent for the four hours of overtime they work each day, they would be earning $8.72 a day, $5.09 a day more than they are paid now. Their wages would only average 72.5 cents an hour, which includes overtime, but it would make a world of difference to them and their families.

Helpers 22 cents an hour $2.62 per 12-hour shiftCutters 24 cents an hour $2.91 per 12-hour shiftSenior Cutters 30 cents an hour $3.63 per 12-hour shiftMost experienced, highest paid cutters 33 - 36 cents an hour $4.00 - $4.36 per 12-hour shift


If helpers earned just 36 cents an hour instead of the 22 cents they are now getting, and if they were paid the proper overtime premium according to the law, they would be earning $5.82 a day for the 12-hour shift, which would be $3.20 more per day than they are cur-rently earning.

Working at some of the most dan-gerous jobs in the world, wages of just 36 to 55 cents an hour should not have to be a dream. Surely the dominant shipping countries and companies, the ILO and the IMO can accomplish this much.

The shipbreaking workers also want a contract to prove that they are permanent, full-time workers em-ployed at a shipyard. Right now, they are treated as temporary workers with no rights. If a worker is injured or even killed, the owner can claim that the worker was never employed in his yard.

The workers want health insurance to cover work injuries.

They want sick days, national holidays and annual paid vacation time to be respected according to the law.

And they want basic safety equip-ment, including helmets, goggles, real boots, welding vests to block the sparks and proper respiratory masks when they are dealing with asbestos, lead paint, gas fumes and other toxins.

And they want the right to organize.

As things stand now, accidents and even some deaths are not investigated or reported. Workers are exposed to toxic wastes every single day, but there are no medi-cal examinations or long-term stud-ies to document how the workers’ health is affected.

Caught in a trapOne Lucky worker, a small, very thin man who had worked 14 years in the shipbreaking yards told us there have been no improvements at all over these14 years. Nothing has changed and no one has ever helped them. Asked if the Ministry of Labor has ever assisted them, he and the other workers responded, “No. Never!” He went on to say that it was impossible to have hope, especially as the Bangladeshi gov-ernment is not concerned about its own people. He also warned the younger workers that the grueling hours worked around toxic waste would make them impotent, as has happened to him.

“The workers aren’t united,” he said. “We don’t have a union. We can’t bargain. If we tried to organize, we would all be fired and replaced.”

“What the owner says is the law.”

“Our work is so risky that we always face deadly situations.”

Referring to 18-year-old Mr. Touhid Hosain Babul who was crushed to death at the M.M. Shipbreaking Yard on April 19,

2009, when a huge metal plate from the ship suddenly fell on him as he was cutting it into smaller pieces.


The Struggle for HopeIn several of the poor neighbor-hoods we visited, workers from different shipyards told us that we were the first foreigners or Western people to come to visit them. The workers said it made them very happy and excited that foreigners cared enough to meet them, and they hoped we could work together.

One group of workers got right down to business, saying they could bring together a meeting of 1,000 shipbreaking workers if it could be held on a Friday afternoon when

the workers had time off. The work-ers would come if they thought there was a chance to improve working conditions and wages. If it would help them, they would take the risk despite everyone’s fear of the powerful and wealthy shipyard owners.

The workers know they are being cheated, denied their rights and recklessly exposed to injuries and death, but they cannot fight back alone. They are caught in a vicious trap. But if international solidarity were offered, the workers would take the leap.

If it costs less than $350 to save a workers’ life, isn’t it criminal not to do so?

The minimal safety gear necessary to protect a cutter in Bangladesh’s shipbreak-ing yards would cost just $347.60. Cutters have the most dangerous job in the yards, wielding blowtorches to cut the giant ships into pieces of scrap.

Basic necessary safety gear for a cutter:

- Hard hat: $ 6.08- Face shield: $ 5.95- Welders apron: $ 22.89- Welders gloves: $ 100.20 ($8.35 per pair, new gloves every month)- Steel toe boots: $ 15.00- Safety harness belt: $ 29.68- 3M Asbestos & lead dust respirators: $167.60 (6000 series, dual cartridge--$11.60/respirator, N100 white filters approx. $13.00 per month) Total cost: $347.60

Necessary safety gear for helpers and loaders—as little as $81 a year:

- Hard hat: $ 6.08- Steel toe boots: $ 15.00- Work gloves: $ 3.03- Protective safety goggles: $ 1.25- Dust filter respiratory masks: $ 55.41 ($7.59 for box of 50; new mask 365 days a year.)

Total Cost: $ 80.77


Mr. Najrul Islam, a 25-year-old •“loader” was killed at the Jiri Subedar Shipyard on October 28, 2008 when a huge metal plate cut from a ship fell and crushed him. Mr. Najrul died on the way to the hospital. In teams, the “load-ers” carry heavy metal plates cut from the ships to waiting trucks for transport to the rolling mills.

Mr. Jahagir Alam, an experienced •cutter who had worked at the Jiri Subedar Shipyard for four years, was critically injured on August 12, 2008 when he was struck by a huge piece of falling metal. He died on September 6, 2008.

On February 18, 2009, Mr. Abdul •Halim, a cutter’s helper, was seri-ously burned at the Jiri Subedar Shipyard when a gas tank they were cutting exploded.

The standard shift at the Jiri Sub-edar Shipyard is 12 hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., though

in February 2009 when we met with the workers, they were being kept until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. several times each week, putting in 14 to 15-hour shifts. When they work to 10:00 p.m. or later, the workers are provided with a special 44-cent food allowance. As is standard in the shipbreaking yards—though illegal—no overtime premium is ever paid. “They don’t give you [over-time], a worker told us, “If you work two hours, you get two hours [regu-lar wages].”Junior cutters earned 36 cents an

hour, while the most experienced senior cutters could earn up to 55 cents an hour, which is the highest wage we heard of in any of the shipyards.

When the workers enter the ship, it is pitch dark. The electrical system is cut once the tanker is beached. The only light they have comes from their blowtorches. The first thing they do is cut small openings in the side of the ship for light.

Inside the ship, it is…”Hot! Very hot. We are sweating. Everyone is soaked.”

They often work on “floating stairs,” which are bamboo-rope ladders. The workers explained it is “very risky.” They hold the rope ladder with one hand and operate the blowtorch in the other. They use their teeth to turn the liquid gas and oxygen valves on and off.

The first thing they have to do is to cut or break the asbestos, which is attached to the steel plates and pipes. They break the asbestos “with a hammer, banging it into pieces.” The workers wrap dirty bandanas around their faces to cover their noses and mouths in an effort to not breathe in the asbestos dust. “It’s itchy,” they say. “If it gets on your hands or skin it is itchy, and sometimes it tickles the face.”

With the asbestos out of the way, they can mark and begin cutting the metal plates, the largest of which is 20 by 20 feet. Depending on where they are in the ship, the cut plates fall either in the water or on the sand and mud. Using winches and thick wire cables, the

Jiri Subedar ShipyardWe are in a trap. No one helps.

Inside the ship, it is... “Hot! Very hot. We are sweating.

Everyone is soaked.”


huge metal plates are pulled up on shore.

They have gloves and hard hats, but no respiratory masks. The work-ers use the same bandanas they used when breaking asbestos to try to protect themselves from the dizzying fumes and stench com-ing from the melting steel and lead paint as they cut with their blowtorches. “[A bandana] is not enough. Every time we breathe, we breathe in the fumes.” Despite the extreme heat—it is hotter inside the ship than outside—they also wear two sets of shirts to protect themselves from the flying sparks bouncing off the metal. It’s “com-mon” for some sparks to burn through both shirts, reaching their skin and burning them.

Other workers drill holes in the ship to drain the gasoline, oil and pol-luted water out of the hold. “Black oil…an oil and water mixture. It stinks,” they say.

There is not much else going on in their lives than work. “We only do the work. We only work. Our life is for work,” we were told.

If they work, they get paid. If they do not work, they do not get paid. “No work, no pay,” they explain. Most workers try to work seven days a week, but if a worker gets sick or is too exhausted, they may take off up to three days a month.

They have no health insurance, no sick days, no overtime pay, no vacation, no national holidays and no safety regulations. Also illegal, management holds back one month’s wages, “To hold the work-ers. To control us and keep us in the shipyard…so we cannot quit.”

We asked if conditions in the ship-breaking yard had improved over the last five or ten years. The re-sponse was, “No. The same as before. No change.”

Was anyone helping them? “No one. Not government, union, Min-istry of Labor. Nothing.” “We are in a trap,” they told us. “Workers are isolated. We can’t meet,”—meaning that anyone who sought improvements would be fired.

Could they at least eat half de-cently? For example, doing the hard labor they do, could they af-ford to eat chicken or mutton even if it was just two or three times a week? “No. Oh, no. With our sal-ary, it is not possible…maybe every two months, every three months.”

Shipyards Violate Every Single Labor Law with Complete ImpunityBangladeshi labor law guarantees the following rights:

A 48-hour regular workweek, with a maximum of 12 • hours overtime per week. All overtime must be volun-tary and paid at a 100 percent premium—i.e. at twice the normal wage.14 paid sick days per year.• 15 days paid vacation after completing one year of • employment.11 paid national holidays.• Access to clean drinking water.• Freedom to organize and form trade unions.•


“We are doing hard labor. We have to consume more food. Rice. Weneedtoeateggs,meat,fish.There is no relationship between what we are paid and the hard labor we do.”

Their wildest dream would be to earn 70 cents to $1.00 an hour and to be paid the legal overtime pre-mium, to have healthcare for work injuries, one day off a week and a contract that proves they are per-manent full-time workers.

As the shipbreaking yards are run now, they might as well ask for the

moon. Without international soli-darity and pressure, nothing is going to change for these workers who in fact are doing one of the world’s most dangerous jobs.

The Jiri Subedar Shipbreaking Yard is owned by Mr. Lokman. He also owns Pupali Enterprises Jiri Sub-edar, which is a separate operation where the large sheets of steel are cut into smaller sizes. In addition, he owns a rolling mill, the Jiri Subedar Steel Re-rolling Mills.

Workers are exposed to: Asbestos, Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, Cadmium, Zinc,

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl compounds), Dioxin, Solvents, Black oil residues, carcinogenic cutting fumes (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).

A 2006 study by the Institute of Marine Sciences at the Univer-

sity of Chittagong in Ban-gladesh, “Shipbreaking Activities and Its Impact on the Coastal Zone of Chittagong, Bangladesh: Towards Sustainable Man-agement” by Dr. Md. M. Maruf Hossain and Md. Mahmudul Islam, found deadly levels of toxic waste being released in Bangla-

desh’s shipbreaking yards.

Each tanker ship contains an av-erage of 15,000 pounds of asbes-tos, which is used for thermal and sound insulation on the ship’s hull

and pipes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly advised that there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos fibers and dust. In July 2009, the National La-bor Committee counted 112 giant tankers and container ships run up on the beaches of Bangladesh’s Bay of Bengal near the port city of Chittagong. This means that for all 112 ships, Bangladeshi shipbreaking workers are handling—with abso-lutely no safety protections—1.68 million pounds of asbestos. The workers use hammers to break the asbestos, which they shovel into plastic garbage bags and carry out to the beach. Child workers are also involved in removing the deadly asbestos.

The University of Chittagong re-search also found that each con-tainer ship is covered with between 10 and 100 tons of lead paint. (Lead paint is still used on ships.) When workers cut apart the ship using their blow torches or scrape

Shipbreakers Exposed Daily to Deadly Toxic Wastes

Woman sifting asbestos. Photo by Ruben Dao/FIDH


the metal to clean it, lead, mer-cury, cadmium, copper, zinc and arsenic are released. All 112 ships beached in Chittagong in July 2009 would contain between 2.24 and 22.4 million pounds of lead paint. Child workers acting as helpers to the cutters are also breathing the fumes given off when the flame of the blowtorch melts the metal and lead paint. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the fumes can be carcinogenic. Child workers also clean the metal plates by hammer-ing off any residues or rust.

Each ship contains several thou-sand liters of oil (engine oil, bilge oil, hydraulic and lubricant oils and grease), for an average of 4,228 quarts of oil per ship, or 473,536 quarts for all 112 ships. Each tanker ship also holds up to 1,000 cubic meters (35,336 cubic feet) of residual oil, or nearly four million cubic feet of residual oil on all 112 ships. These black oil residues mix with and accumulate in the beach sand.

The International Labor Organiza-tion also lists PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl compounds), dioxins and solvents as “hazardous substances” connected to shipbreaking.

The tanker ships are also infested with rats and insects.

The shipbreaking beaches are

laced with chemicals and toxic waste, and coastal waters are seri-ously degraded. Fish populations have been destroyed, wiping out the livelihood and threatening the survival of nearby fishing villages.

There has been absolutely no at-tempt to conduct medical exami-nations of the shipbreaking workers to test for their level of exposure to toxins and carcinogens. In the 30 years that shipbreaking has been going on in Bangladesh, there has not been one long-term study tracking the health of the workers. It is as if their lives do not matter.

It would cost almost nothing for the shipyards to install proper showers where the workers could wash with clean water and soap.

Each Ship Contains: All 112 Beached Ships Contain:

Asbestos: 15,000 lbs 1.68 million pounds

Lead Paint: 20,000-200,000 lbs 2.24 to 22.4 million pounds

Residual oil: Up to 1,308 cubic yards 146,496 cubic yards

Grease, lubricants: Average 4,228 quarts Average of 473,536 quarts(engine, bilge,

hydraulic, other lubricants)

Leading Bangladeshi Attorney Accuses Shipbreaking Yards of Ignoring Injuries, Diseases and Worker Deaths

“I have not come across another sector where every two weeks a minimum of one person is dying and there is no labour unrest. These workers are dying, getting cancer, getting skin diseases; they are also losing their hands and legs. After work-ing in the ship breaking yards for a few years, their bodies are in such a horrible condition that they can barely do any other form of labour.

It’s essentially a crippling way of life.”

Star Weekend Magazine, “The Environment’s Friend, May 8, 2008Ms. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, attorneyDirector, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers AssociationRecent winner, Goldman Environmental Prize


A Worker Dies Every Month in the Shipbreaking Yards

As of September 8, 2009, nine workers have been killed.

Abdul Karim (27 year old)Rign Road, Coxs Bazar, BangladeshDate: July 27, 2009Cause: Fall from the top of ShipShip name: MT. ADITI

Place: Madambibir Hat, Sitakund. Babul (22 years old)Hasnabad, Bhatiary, Sitakund ChittagongDate: April 21, 2009Cause: Crushed under large iron plateYard name: MM Shipbreaking yard (a.k.a. Lucky shipyard)

Belal (27 years old)Sub-district- Sandwip, Chittagong.Date: April 21, 2009Cause: Struck by a big iron plateYard name: S. Trading Shipbreaking yard Owner: Mr. Shafi Sakhowat (age unknown)Date: February 6, 2009Cause: Hit by Iron PlateYard name: Habib Steel 2 Owner: Mr. Yeasin Ali

Tipu (20 years old)Date: February 24, 2009Cause: Struck by Iron Plate falling from top of shipYard name: Habib Steel 1 Owner: Mr. Yeasin Ali

Enamul Haque (20 years old)Date: February 24, 2009Cause: Suffocation in tank full of toxic gas Yard name: Mac International Owner: Mr. Joinal Abedin

Sunil (age unknown)Date: March 19, 2009Cause: Fell from the shipYard name: Mabiya Enterprise Owner: Mr. Jahangir

Helal (18 years old)Date: April 11, 2009Cause: Struck by large iron plateYard name: Jomuna Shipbreaking yard Owner: Mr. AlauddinShip name: United Moonlight

Hossain (35 years old) On Saturday morning, September 5, 2009 at 9:00 a.m., 35-year-old Mr. Hossain was burned to death while breaking apart a huge Korean tanker ship at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard. A sec-ond worker, Mr. Ashek, 20 years old, is in critical condition and just barely clinging to life. Three other workers, Md Kuddus, 32, Jahangir, 28, and Khokon, 22, also suffered serious burns and are in the Burn Unit of the Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

(List of workers killed prepared by the NGO Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), Chittagong office.)


In 2008, Young Power in Social Action documented that 16 shipbreaking workers were killed,

which means that a worker died every 23 days.

In a 2005 report, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and GreenPeace estimated that 1,000 Bangladeshi workers died in shipbreaking yard accidents between 1975 when the industry started and 2005. These figures would put shipyard deaths at nearly three workers killed each month.

The Bangladesh Environmental Law-yers Association (BELA) estimates that there have been around 2,000 worker deaths in the shipbreaking yards since 1998. This would mean a death toll of more than 16 workers per month over the last ten years.

In a 2006 publication, “Shipbreak-ing Activities and its Impact on the Coastal Zone of Chittagong, Ban-gladesh,” authors Dr. Md. M. Maruf Hossain and Md. Mahmudul Islam of the University of Chittagong note that:

“On average, one shipbreak-ing worker dies at the yards in Bangladesh every week, and every day one worker gets injured.”

It is not possible to document every accident and death in Bangla-desh’s shipbreaking yards because accidents and deaths are not even reported let along investigated. The shipbreaking yard owners are very powerful and wealthy people who operate their yards as private fiefdoms. They are the law. The Bangladeshi government plays almost no role, which leaves the workers trapped in what are some of the most dangerous working

conditions in the world. In the last 30 years, neither the International Labor Organization nor the Interna-tional Maritime Organization have been able to effect any positive change. The shipbreaking workers are very clear on this:

“There has not been a single improvement. Everything is as it has been.”

New Shipbreaking Rules Fall ShortThe International Maritime Organization (IMO)—a United Na-tions body—recently concluded a convention, issuing new rules to regulate the shipbreaking industry. According to attorney Rizwana Hasan and the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), joined by the international NGO Platform on Shipbreaking and GreenPeace, the new IMO convention fails to deal with pre-cleaning—the removal of toxic materials from the ships before they are beached and dismantled in Bangladesh or other less-developed countries. Starting in 2011, the convention does require shipowners to build new ships without using toxic materials. This means that for the next 27 to 32 years, toxic ships will continue to be dis-mantled on Bangladesh’s beaches. Nor does the convention call—even in the future—for safer and more environmentally sound dry docking of decommissioned ships rather than the highly destructive practice of beaching.


In July, we met a child worker from the Ambia shipbreaking yard who told us he was 14 years

old. But the older workers quickly explained that he was really just 10. He was tiny. He worked as a “cleaner,” wielding a hammer all day, banging chips of rust off the metal plates that the blowtorch operators were cutting. The work, he told us, was very hard, and at the end of the 12-hour shift, he was worn out and exhausted.

Senior workers estimated that there were approximately 60 children working in the Ambia yard.

The child workers work alongside the cutters’ helpers, who are re-sponsible for breaking up the asbes-tos inside the ship, shoveling it into sacks and taking it outside. They guess that the owner sells the as-bestos.

The child workers and helpers are paid 20 to 22 cents [13.75 to 15 taka] an hour—$2.40 to $2.64 for the routine 12-hour shift.

Though the overtime hours are mandatory, there is no overtime premium—no national holidays, no vacation, no healthcare, no sick days, nothing. In every shipyard the workers told us the same thing—that the Ministry of Labor did abso-lutely nothing to help the workers. Every single labor law in Bangla-desh was being grossly violated in broad daylight and with complete impunity.

In fact, Ministry of Labor of-ficials claim that there are no children working in the shipbreaking yards. They have gone in and inspect-ed the yards, they say. But all their visits are an-nounced well in advance, making it easy for the own-ers to keep the kids in their miserably primitive homes for the day of the visit.

There are 500 to 700 work-ers at the Ambia yard, where three giant tanker and container ships are being dismantled for scrap. Depending on its size, it takes six to nine months to

completely dismantle a ship.

Senior cutters earn 25 to 29 cents [17.5 to 20 taka] an hour. In the standard, grueling 12-hour shift, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., the cutters earn from $3.00 to $3.48, and if they toil seven days a week, including four hours on Friday their weekly holiday, they can earn $19 to $22.04 a week.

“We have no fun and no time to play.All we do is work and sleep.”

-Child worker, Ambia yard

Ambia Shipbreaking Yard


“This is our life,” the workers told us. “If we don’t work, our family will die. Just work and sleep. Without hope.” Working in the shipbreaking yards, they continued, “makes your life short, and reduces our lifespan to around 40 years of age.”

Four workers shared each small room, measuring approximately eight by ten feet. Two workers slept on a hard wooden platform, while the other two slept directly on the concrete floor. The rooms were depressing, dark, suffocatingly hot and airless. There were no win-dows, and the door opened into a covered hallway. There were a few pots lying on the floor in which they cooked their meager food. Other than that, there were a few pieces of clothing hanging on ropes. But there was no TV, no radio, no cas-sette player, nothing. The workers laughed when we asked if they could afford to eat anything other than rice and vegetables. Could they afford meat? They told us that the only time they ate mutton was during the religious holiday, Eid, when wealthier people give food to the poor.

Standing in the room, it was un-imaginable how anyone could live here for more than a day or two.

Here too, as in other yards, the own-er has a network of spies—workers who are paid a few extra dollars to monitor and crush any workers seeking to improve working and liv-ing conditions.

When the Ambia shipyard workers let loose and dreamed the impos-sible, they wished they would earn 60 to 70 cents an hour!

Instead of raising wages or paying the proper overtime premium, yard

management always holds back five days’ wages—up to 1,200 taka ($17.40) to “bond” the laborers to the yard. The fact that workers can be “bonded” and held in the yard for just $17.40 is an indication of how desperately poor and on the edge these workers are.

Shipyard Owners in Bangladesh Defy Court OrderIn response to a suit filed by attorney Rizwana Hasan, Director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), the High Court in Bangladesh (equivalent to the Supreme Court in the U.S.) ruled in March 2009 that the shipbreaking yards should be shut down within two weeks if they failed to receive “environmental clearance” from Bangladesh’s De-partment of the Environment. The Department had already found the shipbreaking yards to be a “Category Red” hazard, meaning that the yards presented “extreme danger” to the environment. BELA’s lawsuit was on its way to being a land-mark victory. The High Court extended the grace period from two weeks to three months, giving the shipyard owners time to frame rules guaranteeing environmental and worker safety and the safe removal and disposal of toxic waste. The first three-month deadline came and went in June with absolutely no change in the shipbreaking yards. It was business as usual, as a second three-month deadline slipped by in September.

The general secretary of Bangladesh’s Ship Breakers Associa-tion, MR. Abul Kasheem, had a unique defense. He said the government had never declared shipbreaking as an industry, and therefore they did not need environmental clearance. The vice president of the Association, Mr. M. Mohsin calmly observed that he is not aware of any government ban on shipbreaking.

It pays to have powerful friends. At least one member of Parliament, Mr. Quasem Master, owns a shipyard. Moreover, his son recently cut down 125 acres of desperately needed mangrove forest to build another yard.

The former mayor of Chittagong, the country’s second largest city, Mr. Monjurul Alam Monjo, also owns a shipbreaking yard.


Who Is Responsible?

For the past 30 years, shipbreak-ing workers in Bangladesh have been maimed, burned, killed,

poisoned, cheated of their wages and denied every single labor right under Bangladesh law and the International Labor Organization’s core worker rights standards. And over the entire three decades, the shipbreaking workers recently told us, “nothing has changed, there have been no improvements.” In addition to the extreme worker rights violations, miles of beaches and ocean have been irreparably degraded and overcome with toxic waste.

It is convenient for the major ship-ping nations and companies—who dominate global cargo trade—to present what is happening in Ban-gladesh as just another intractable example of the desperate poverty wracking the underdeveloped countries that the G-20, the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization are all racing to fix.

In fact, it is very possible to name those who are responsible for the human and environmental crimes in Bangladesh.

Certainly the shipbreaking yard owners in Bangladesh are respon-sible. They have grown fantastically wealthy and powerful on the backs of the exploited, maimed and dis-carded workers. And, the Govern-ment of Bangladesh, in particular the Ministry of Labor, has not lifted a finger to implement Bangladesh’s labor and environmental laws.

But there are much bigger fish out there who are also responsible, and who have the means and power to implement change. The ten largest shipping nations control 72.2 per-cent of all merchant cargo ship-ments worldwide. Certainly pow-erful shipping countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Norway, Greece, China, South Korea and Singapore bear a significant responsibility. Six of the largest shipping countries be-long to the G-20, where they could forcefully raise this issue.

Ten Largest Shipping Nations

“…[T]he shipping scene is de-termined by only a few shipping countries… The top ten shipping nations controlled, in terms of dwt, 72.2 percent of the total world mer-chant feet tonnage…”

1. Greece

2. Japan

3. Germany

4. China

5. Norway

6. United States

7. Hong Kong

8. South Korea

9. Singapore

10. United Kingdom

- SSMR October 2006 Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics


Moreover, just ten container ship-ping companies control 60 percent of all merchant cargo shipments worldwide. If they chose to do so, these major shipping companies could also have a powerful voice demanding an end to the decades of abuse and exploitation endured by Bangladesh’s workers. These companies could support improve-ments in the shipbreaking industry.

The International Maritime Organi-zation (IMO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) also bear a huge responsibility to end the abuse in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. However their track record has been extremely poor. The In-ternational Labor Organization has been working on improving condi-tions in Bangladesh’s shipbreak-ing yards for the last 20 years with absolutely no positive results. This is wrong and we cannot allow it.

Nothing will change as long as respect for and enforcement of labor rights standards remain a

gentlemen’s game, politely played behind closed doors by powerful vested interests.

The G-20 meets in Pittsburgh on September 24 and 25. Six of the 10 largest shipping nations (not count-ing the European Union) are G-20 members: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China and South Korea. Labor and hu-man rights activists, environmen-talists, students, people of faith, women’s groups and others have the right to challenge the G-20 meeting to do more than just talk while young workers and children continue to die and be maimed in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. We have the right to demand con-crete steps to improve the ship-breaking industry.

World’s Ten Largest Container Shipping Companies

1. APM-Maersk – Denmark

2. Mediterranean Shg. Co – Switzerland

3. GMA/GGM Group – France

4. Evergreen Line – United Kingdom, Italy, Taiwan & Hong Kong

5. Hapag – Lloyd – Germany

6. Cosco Container L. – China

7. APL – Singapore

8. CSCL – China

9. NYK – Japan

10. Hanjin/Senator – South Korea


Here is the question: Could the shipyard owners in Ban-gladesh, joined by the ten

wealthy nations that dominate shipping, along with the ten largest container shipping companies, the International Maritime Organization, the International Labor Organiza-

tion and the G-20 countries afford to end child labor in Bangladesh’s ship-breaking yards? Of course they could. What is lacking is the will to do so.

At a minimum, ev-ery 10, 11, 12 and 13-year-old worker should be sent back to school.

First, the children will need a living stipend to at least replace their regular wages of $10.56 a week, $549.12 for the year. [22 cents/hour x 48 hours = $10.56] In addition, although public schools are

free, there are costs for purchasing necessary school materials, such as uniforms, school bags, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. This would cost 12,000 to 15,000 taka ($174.42-$218) a year—or an average cost of $196.22.

The 10 to 13-year-old child workers could return to school with a living stipend and the necessary school supplies for just $745.72 a year and $1,491.44 for two years.

No one knows exactly how many child workers there are in the ship-breaking yards, but credible esti-mates we heard from the senior workers were that there are approx-imately twenty 10 to 13 year-olds working in each yard. If that is the case, it would cost each shipbreak-ing yard less than $30,000 to send their child workers back to school for two years.

This is not a lot of money, and one would think that the wealthy ship-yard owners in Bangladesh, along with the dominant shipping nations and companies, the International Maritime Organization, the Interna-tional Labor Organization and the G20 nations, could accomplish this much.

It is critical that we challenge these major players to do the right thing.

As an aside, according to the ILO, no one under 18 years of age should be employed in dangerous occupations that may damage their health. Surely shipbreaking is among the most dangerous jobs in the world—but the convention is completely ignored in Bangladesh.

Let’s send the child workers to school

Thirteen-year-old KilledThirteen-year-old Sultan Nasiruddin Molla was killed at the Sultana Shipyard on his first day of work on July 14, 2008. He was struck in the head when a large plate of steel from a ship came free. The ship being dismantled was the MT Rufazi. The owner of the yard is Mr. Adnanur Rahman.


We had the chance to meet with several groups of workers from the Mamun

Enterprise shipyard, which the work-ers called “Shafi” after the owners’ name. The yard was always busy, and there were up to 1,000 workers.

Grueling hours, dangerous conditions, pitifully low wag-es, miserable living quarters and some child workers:The “Shafi” yard operates 24 hours a day on two 12-hour shifts—from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. The yard works seven days a week, though on Fri-days—the workers weekly holiday—the shift is ‘just’ four hours, from 8:00 a.m. to noon. This puts the workers in the yard 76 hours a week.

Helpers are paid just 22 cents (15 taka) an hour and $2.61 for the standard 12-hour shift. Cutters, operating blowtorches to cut the ships to pieces, earn 29 to 33 cents (20 to 20.5 taka) an hour, depend-ing upon seniority and experience. Working the mandatory 12-hour shift, cutters earn $3.49 a day, up to a high of $3.92, which few workers earn. Despite the forced overtime every day, no overtime premium is paid.

If the shipbreakers do not work, they do not get paid. They have no paid sick days, no public holidays, no religious festivals, no vacations.

The work is exhausting. Most of the helpers are so poor that they carry the heavy sheets of metal all day long in scorching temperatures, go-ing barefoot or wearing the cheap-est flip flops because they cannot

afford shoes.

The helpers told us they had to take one or two days off a month—un-paid—as they were too exhausted or sick. The night shift workers knew of at least a dozen 12 and 13-year-old children who also worked the whole night through.

The living conditions are not fit for animals. Five workers share each primitive room, sleeping on a dirty concrete floor. There are no beds, no mattresses. The rooms have paper-thin roofs of woven bam-boo slats, which leak when it rains. When it rains, the workers sit up all night, covering themselves with pieces of plastic. The workers can only afford to subsist on the cheap-est rice and vegetables. Chicken, fish and meat is out of the question and only a distant dream.

The owner has started taking the workers’ timecards away at the end of each month so that there are no records of how many hours they work each week or month

Mamun Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard“We work. We eat. We sleep. We don’t have any life.”


or of how many years they have worked at the yard. This way, if a worker gets badly hurt or even killed, the owner can claim that the worker never worked in his yard. Also, without timecards there is no way to document how many hours of legal overtime pay the workers are cheated of.

The workers also report that “Shafi” management uses “spies”—workers who have been paid off—to make sure that the workers can never uni-fy around a set of basic demands,

such as respect for their basic legal rights.

The Bangladeshi Ministry of Labor never helps. Like every other group of shipbreaking workers we spoke with, the “Shafi” workers were ada-mant in saying that over the years, there have been no improvements at all. Nothing has changed. The workers are trapped in danger and misery.

In February 2009, a newly hired helper at the Bhatiary Steel Yard was seriously injured and crippled

when a heavy sheet of metal crushed his back. He was fired with no compensation or medical care.

There are approximately 400 work-ers at the Bhatiary Steel yard, work-ing two shifts around the clock, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. On the dayshift, the workers are often kept to 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., putting in a 13 to 15-hour shift. This routinely happens four or five times a week. On Fridays—the weekly holiday—the workers toil five hours, from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The shipbreak-ers work every day they can. It is

only when they are sick, exhausted or injured that they take a day off. If they do not work, they receive no pay. If they were healthy enough to work all seven days, they would be at the shipyard 80 hours a week.

On the day shift, the workers get an hour for lunch at 1:00 p.m. and a half-hour break at 5:00 p.m. when management provides tea and a small biscuit.

Senior cutters—using blowtorches to cut the ship to pieces—earn 29 cents an hour, while helpers are paid 18 or 19 cents an hour. The legal overtime premium is never paid. If the workers dare ask for their proper pay, the response from the owner is: “The gate is open. Get out. Go.”

The workers estimate that there are about 15 children between the ages of 11 and 13 working on the dayshift.

To survive, we have to die…We laugh to release our sorrow.

-Worker, Bhatiary Steel Shipbreaking Yard

“Bhatiary Steel” Yard/Bhatiary Shipbreaking Ltd.


Inside the ship, fumes from gas leaks, burning metal and lead paint burn the workers eyes and make them dizzy. Many vomit.

When we met with the workers, they were basically dressed in rags. One older man was wearing a torn, worn-out MIT tee shirt.

Four workers share a small room which leaks when it rains. It costs the workers 500 taka, or $7.22 a month. They subsist on rice, mashed potatoes, the cheapest of vegetables, and dahl (lentils)—which they can afford twice a week. A pound of mutton costs $2.91, the equivalent of nearly eight-hours’ pay. They never eat meat more than once a month.

Similar to what we heard in other shipbreaking yards, the most expe-rienced Bhatiary workers, who had been around the longest, con-firmed that there had not been any

changes over the years, and abso-lutely no improvements. Actually, the situation may have even gotten worse, as the cost of basic food was constantly rising. So in some ways, the workers said, “We are go-ing backwards.”

More than 700 Ships will be Scrapped this YearIn 2000, GreenPeace estimated that 700 ships a year were be-ing scrapped in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China and Turkey out of a total global fleet of 62,000 container, bulk carrier and oil product tankers.

The total number of ships being scrapped in 2009 will be much larger for two reasons. First, many more ships were added to the global fleet between 2000 and 2009. More importantly, the worst global recession in the last 70 years has led to plum-meting imports and exports worldwide. According to industry estimates, falling demand will result in the early decommission-ing of some 10 percent of the global fleet. Whereas a ship’s normal sailing life is 25 to 30 years, many shipping companies are selling their ships for scrap before they reach their normal year end life cycle. Rather than paying to maintain idled ships, the companies are selling them for scrap to the highest bidder in countries like Bangladesh, where workers are paid pennies an hour, while health and safety, worker rights and environmental standards are not enforced.


We don’t know when we will die…

We have to take death into our hands.

-Shipbreaking worker

Our visit, they told us, was the first time they had seen an outsider in over ten years.

Ministry of Labor officials had never come to meet the workers.

“How can we see hope?” the work-er said, in response to our question. “The owner sees us as dogs. He ignores us… hates us, and we have to accept this because we have to work.”

As in other shipbreaking yards, the night shift workers toil from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., seven days a week. On Friday—their supposed weekly holiday—the shift is reduced to four or five hours. The workers are allowed a half-hour break for sup-per from 10:00 to 10:30 p.m., and at 2:00 a.m., the workers get a tea break when management provides

a cup of tea and a small biscuit, which the workers say costs the owner about four cents to purchase at a local store. The day shift is from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The workers use bamboo rope lad-ders both outside and inside the ships. It’s an 80-foot climb from the sand or water to reach the deck. There are no safety belts. Inside, cutters cling to the rope ladder with one hand while using their other hand to work the blow torch.

We saw one thin worker standing in a small plastic bucket being pulled up to the deck with a rope tied around the bucket. It was frighten-ing to even watch.

The owner provides a new pair of cheap welding gloves to the cut-ters every two weeks. Everything else, the workers have to buy, wear-ing cheap sunglasses rather than proper goggles and wrapping their faces with bandanas in place of respiratory masks. Without welding vests, the workers wear two sets of shirts to ward off the flying sparks of burning metal.

They use hammers to tear down the asbestos that is wrapped around the ship’s pipes. The young work-ers pile the asbestos on the sand. Some yards sell the asbestos, while others wait for rain to wash it to sea.

Another standard practice is to drill holes into the ship in order to drain used oil, gas and other toxic chemi-cals into the sea.

Khaja Shipmaster Trading Shipbreaking Yard

A Clandestine Meeting with the Workers


For safety, the workers have to rely upon their own folklore. Everyone knows how extremely dangerous it is to cut apart a gas tank—or cut into any chamber where gas fumes could have built up—with a red-hot blowtorch. Deadly explosions are all too common. To protect them-selves, the workers first drill holes in the tanks and then put sand in the hole, which they believe may pre-vent an explosion.

When they breathe in too many gas fumes, the workers say it pain-fully swells their stomachs in addi-tion to causing headaches, dizzi-ness and fever. In some parts of the ship, almost everyone is coughing.

Every worker is a specialist, and some workers spend the entire day in the water, roping together and pulling dozens of large metal bar-rels to land. Oil is constantly leaking into the water and the workers suf-fer painful rashes.

On the day shift, the workers report, there are about two dozen child workers who are 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 years old.

Injuries are common. One worker we spoke with was idled for 15 days after a large piece of metal fell, cutting and bruising his leg. The 15 days it took him to recover were unpaid.

In the beginning of February 2009, another young teenage worker was struck with an iron rod, which fractured his foot. For two days, the workers related, he lay crying in pain. The workers took him in a bi-cycle rickshaw to see a doctor. He will be unable to work and without pay for at least two months. “How is he going to survive? He can’t,” a worker told us. In the shipyards, no

matter how bad your injury, if you do not work, you do not get paid.

At the Khaja Shipmaster yard, senior cutters earn $3.05 to $3.44 for the standard 12-hour shift—or 25 to 29 cents an hour. Helpers are paid 19 to 20 cents per hour. Not only are shipbreakers’ wages pitifully low, but the owner often delays paying their wages for one or two weeks. When the workers beg for their wages, it is the owner who feels abused and curses them, yelling, “Get out!”

Six workers sleep in a single room. They cannot afford a TV or radio, and few have enough money to get married. They go to the mov-ies once every year or two. The workers save every cent they earn

U.S. Ships “Re-Flagged” to Export Toxic WasteIn 1976, the United States Congress banned the export of toxic materials abroad, to poor developing countries where few protections exist for workers or the environment. The bill, the Toxic Waste Substance Act, can be used to block the export of ships offshore for shipbreaking if they contain high enough concentrations of toxins such as PCBs. However, U.S. commer-cial ship owners have been evading the law for years. They simply sell the ship, which is then “re-flagged” to sail under the flag of another country, and it becomes perfectly legal to send toxic ships to be scrapped in the developing world. In March 2008, the Christian Science Monitor reported that be-tween 2000 and 2008, at least 91 U.S. flagged commerce ships had been approved for re-flagging so they could be scrapped offshore.


so they can send $14.50 to $21.80 home to their parents each month. Their villages are in the north of Ban-gladesh. The shipbreaking workers usually go home twice a year, stay-ing each time for about ten days.

These workers’ dream is to earn 300 taka ($4.36) a day for the regular eight-hour shift, or 55 cents an hour. When they work 12 hours, they should, by law, be paid double time for the four overtime hours, earning $1.10 an hour. So, for the

twelve-hour shift, they should earn $8.76—an average regular and overtime wage of just 73 cents an hour.

If nothing changes to formally hold the shipyard owners accountable to respect Bangladesh’s labor laws, the workers will continue to be cheated, paid just 29 cents an hour with no overtime premium—for do-ing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Twenty-five-year old Mr. Masud was killed at the Kabir Steel shipbreaking yard on Novem-

ber 14, 2008. He was struck by a heavy piece of metal and died on the way to the hospital.

Mr. Masud worked in a “loader group” of a dozen or more workers who lifted heavy pieces of metal—typically measuring five by fifteen feet—onto their shoulders all day

long to carry them from the ship to trucks waiting to take the scrap to nearby rolling mills. The metal sheets are so heavy that the work-ers must all step in perfect unison, following a rhythmic chant or grunt. If even a few workers were to move out of coordination with the rest, the heavy weight could crush them all. Watching them, we could not help but think of the slaves who built the pyramids in Egypt.

The Kabir shipbreaking yard is huge, with approximately 1,500 workers and eight beached ships lined up to be dismantled.

Bangladesh is a Muslim country, and many of the shipbreaking workers are fasting for the month of Ramadan leading up to one of the most important religious festivals, Eid Al Fitr. When we questioned our friends in Bangladesh, they described Eid as a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Every-one wants to go home, to the vil-lages of their parents, bringing gifts and food. Across Bangladesh, it is traditional for government offices and many businesses to give their

Kabir Steel Shipbreaking Yard“We have no security in our lives.”


workers time off for the Eid holiday and to provide an Eid bonus equal to one month’s pay. But the Kabir shipbreaking yard “celebrates” Eid a little differently. If workers take off for the religious Eid holiday, they are neither paid nor provided with the traditional Eid bonus. In fact, before Eid, Kabir manage-ment holds back 500 taka ($7.27) in wages to assure that if the work-ers go to visit their family homes in northern Bangladesh, they will

return to work immediately after the holiday. It speaks volumes about how poor and desperate these workers are that $7.27 in withheld wages is enough to make some workers return on time. Rather than giving their workers the Eid bonus, management holds back the poor workers’ wages to bond them to the miserable conditions at the Ka-bir shipbreaking yard.

U.S. Ships Being Broken Up in Bangladesh

Profiting on 22 to 32-cent-an-hour wages and no safety, environmental or labor rights standards. A shipbreaking worker is injured every day and one is killed every three or four weeks.

“[A ship owner will get] ‘more than 10 times the price by selling to a yard in Bangladesh than to a yard in the Eu-ropean union,’ where regulations are stricter,” - Inguild Jenssen, Director, NGO Platform on Shipbreaking Agency France Press, May 15, 2009 “Dozens of Nations Sign Treaty on Shipbreaking”

Swift Fair (IMO 7910773): Owner: Sterling Grace Corp., United StatesSize: 799 feet long, 106 feet wide, 179 feet highFlag of convenience: LiberiaCargo: GrainTrading area: East Coast, U.S.; Caribbean; East coast of South America; United Kingdom; Mediterranean, Far EastSold in Bangladesh for: $4,421,700

Caribbean Wind (IMO 8523101):Owner: Eastwind Group, United StatesSize: 587 feet long, 83 feet wide, 161 feet high

Blue Ridge (IMO 7818418)Owner: East Group, United StatesSize: 493 feet long, 73 feet wideSold in Bangladesh for: $4,733,652

Chinese Ships Being Broken Up in Bangladesh

Hebei Century (IMO 8015685)Owner: Hosco, ChinaSize: 922 feet long, 174 feet wide, 166 feet highSold in Bangladesh for: $6,426,000

Hebei Pioneer (IMO 8109979)Owner: Hosco, ChinaSize: 886 feet long, 141 feet wide, 180 feet highSold in Bangladesh for: $4,295,565

Hebei Hawk (IMO 7924944)Owner: Hosco, ChinaSize: 984 feet long, 165 feet wide, 203 feet highSold in Bangladesh for: $6,404,350

Hebei Dove (IMO 8020511Owner: Hosco, ChinaSize: 817 feet long, 148 feet wide, 165 feet highSold in Bangladesh for $4,585,350

Danning Princess (IMO 8127660)Owner: Cosco, ChinaSize: 834 feet longSold in Bangladesh for $4,377,250

Hong Wan (IMO 7404592)Owner: Fuzhou Xingiahong Shpg. Co. Ltd, ChinaSize: 602 feet long, 91 feet wide, 157 feet highSold in Bangladesh for: $2,224,940


The world is a desperate place for the poor, and as that des-peration grows, more workers

are fighting to keep jobs that they know will kill them. With no alterna-tives, the workers have no choice. Their families must survive.

The shipbreakers in Bangladesh do not want the yards to be shut down. In fact, they will fight to defend jobs that are exploiting, maiming and killing them. Such is the desperation they face. “To live, we have to die,” the shipbreakers told us.

One fact: For 30 years, 30,000 workers in Ban-gladesh’s shipbreaking yards have been trapped in danger and mis-ery.

Second fact: The global institutions and bureau-cracies that oversee the global economy are miserably failing workers across the developing world. The G-20 countries (and the G-7 before that), the World Trade Organization, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and International Labor Organiza-tion have all failed to produce a single improvement over the last 30 years in the lives of Bangladesh’s 30,000 shipbreakers. What a track record!

It is frightening to think that the way the global trading system is currently set up, we might not see any improvements over the next 30 years either. In a global trading system where “free trade” is a sa-cred and immutable right trumping

all human rights, shipbreaking is just the last cycle in the race to the bot-tom in the global sweatshop econ-omy. Even if the International Labor Organization (ILO) wanted to help, it is as if they are starting out with their arms tied behind their back. A lot of conferences and meetings have been held on shipbreaking in the developing world; reports and videos have been distributed and money spent, but to no end, with no concrete improvements.

A Common Sense Approach:In truth, if the rights—including work-er rights—of the human being were afforded similar legal protections as are currently granted to corporate products and trademarks, it would not be so difficult to improve condi-tions.

What We Should Do:

1. The ILO could work in part-nership with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Labor and with local nongov-ernmental human and labor rights organizations—including providing sufficient funding when necessary—to bring the Ministry of Labor up to par so that it could effectively enforce Bangladesh’s labor laws.

2. Child Labor: Child workers 10, 11, 12 and 13 years of age em-ployed in Bangladesh’s shipbreak-ing yards should be returned to school where they belong. It would cost less than $750 a year—includ-ing a stipend to replace their wag-es and to cover all school costs—to do this. Child and teenage workers 14, 15, 16 and 17 years old should be relocated out of the shipbreak-

What Should Be DoneGlobal Trade Rules Fail to Protect Worker Rights


ing yards and into less dangerous jobs in accordance with ILO con-vention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

3. Establish the rule of law in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards: Bangladesh’s labor laws are mod-est and clear:

• A legal eight-hour day, six days a week, for a regular 48-hour workweek.• All overtime must be volun-tary and paid at a 100 percent premium.• Workers must receive one day off each week.• Paid sick days, national holi-days and vacations must be respected.• Workers must be provided ap-pointment cards, proving they are permanent, full-time workers at a particular shipyard.• Workers have the right to or-ganize independent unions and to bargain collectively.The workers have two further dreams—to earn 60 cents an hour and to have health insur-ance for work-related injuries, just as government workers have.

4. Implementing basic safety provisions: It would cost almost nothing to provide workers with basic safety trainings. Also, showers and clean water should be made available in the shipyards so workers can wash in case they are exposed to toxins and at the end of every shift.

We have shown that for less than $350, workers could be outfitted

with hardhats, welders’ gloves, welding vests and protective visors, safety belts, steel toe boots and respiratory masks and clean filters if they are working around asbestos, lead or other toxic dust.

5. The ten countries and ten shipping companies that dominate global merchant cargo trade must guarantee that all toxic waste will be removed before ships are sent to Bangladesh—or India, Pakistan, China or Turkey—for scrapping.

Surely if these very modest steps were implemented in Bangladesh’s shipyards, the global economy would not collapse like a house of cards. So what is holding us back? If the anointed institutions and bu-reaucracies directing global trade are stuck in the mud, international human and worker rights activists can take the lead. It might prove very effective to focus on one high-profile campaign at a time, concentrating our efforts, winning, and then moving on to the next campaign. Putting a human face on the global economy is far too important to leave to the bureau-crats.


To to you ship breaking is…To me ship breaking is not just a national issue, but an international one. Because developed countries are sending their waste to our coun-tries, and using our coastal areas as nothing more thandumpingsites.Myfirstfightwasagainstconverting our coastal areas into dumping sites. The second was about protecting the environ-ment of our country as well as the labourers who are involved in the industry. On a different note, although we do the campaign (ship breaking) withourgovernment,it’snotonlyconfinedtotheGovernment of Bangladesh. We also have to do international lobbying with the EU and the US and with other developed countries such as Japan who are sending their dirty ships to Bangladesh. So although it’s a national advocacy issue, it’s not limited to national. It has got trans-boundary and international dimensions as well. What should the government do to deal with ship breaking?The government has to take a decision, does it want to continue with this ship breaking, if yes than how does it ensure that toxic ships will not enter Bangladesh. If they enter into Bangladesh after they are cleaned, which only removes 80% of its toxicity, then what happens to the remain-ing 20%? Who will give Bangladesh funds for containing that 20%? The government must also come forward to protect the labourers, and en-sure that the labourers are given basic rights. The right to from organisation, right to get compensa-tion, the right to know that they are working in an environment that can end up giving them can-cer. The government also has to take very strict measuresagainstthedefiantshipbreakingyardowners.

You have often spoken up against the two main ideas that the ship breaking industry uses to justify their existence. Could you please inform us of your thoughts on those issues?

The ship breaking industry is currently operating on two main pleas, one is that they are supplying 80%of the iron to Bangladesh, the other is that they employ up to 20,000 workers. Now there are only 14 countries in the world that have a natural supplyofironandonlyfivecountriesintheworldthat are doing ship breaking, what about the rest of the countries? How are they meeting their iron demands? Are the people in Sri Lanka buying iron at a higher rate than us, the answer is no. If you read the draft policy that the department of shipping prepared on ship breaking, it has said that the ship breaking industry supplies 80% of the iron to Bangladesh. And yet after a price rise in 2007 when the ship breakers were blamed for the increase, the owners openly came out and said they do not supply 80% of the iron, but merely 25%. Then one could ask, if they did not artificiallyincreasethepricethenwhodid?Theanswer is that whichever is the source of getting iron, whether its imported iron billet or from ship breaking, all of it is sent to the re-rolling mills. Who owns the re rolling mills? It’s the ship breaking companies. That is where they do the manipula-tion and increase the price. But the point is clear, that they do not supply 80% of the iron. Their second plea is that they employ 20,000 labourers, but when you ask them they will never be able to give you a list of those workers. I have not come across another sector where every two weeks a minimum of 1 person is dying and there is no labour unrest. These workers are dying, getting cancer, getting skin diseases; they are also los-ing their hands and legs. After working in the ship breaking yards for a few years their bodies are in such a horrible condition that they can barely do any other form of labour. It is essentially crip-pling them for life. Often people worry what will happen if this industry is shut down, many will lose their jobs. To them I would say, if it’s a choice between unemployment and gross exploitation then I would chose unemployment. So basically both the pleas on which they are operating are futile to say the least.

Star Weekend Magazine, “The Environment’s Friend, May 8, 2008

Excerpt of interview with Ms. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, attorneyDirector, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers AssociationRecent winner, Goldman Environmental Prize


Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) House # F10 (P), Road # 13, Block-B, Chandgaon R/A Chittagong-4212 - Bangladesh Tel: +88-031-672857 / Tel + Fax: +88-031-2570255 E-mail: [email protected] www.ypsa.org

Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) House # 446 (Ground Floor) West Rampura Dhaka-1219 Tel: 8802-7282025 Email: [email protected]

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) House # 15/A , Road # 3, Dhanmondi Residential Area Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh Tel: 8802-8614283, 8618706 Email: [email protected] www.belabangla.org

NGO Platform on Shipbreaking Rue de la Liniere, 11 BE 1060 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 (0) 2 6094 419 http://www.shipbreakingplatform.com/

International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) 54bis, route des Acacias, Case Postale 1516 CH-1227 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 308 5050 Fax: +41 22 308 5055 E-mail: [email protected] www.imfmetal.org

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) 17, passage de la Main-d’Or 75011 Paris, France Tel : (33-1) 43 55 25 18 / Fax: (33-1) 43 55 18 80 www.fidh.org

GreenPeace 702 H Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20001 USA Tel: (202) 462-1177 or (800) 326-0959 www.greenpeace.org

Key Organizations Working to Improve Shipbreaking


Where Ships and Workers Go To Die

Documents

shipbreaking workers

bangladeshi workers

shipbreaking workers

bangladeshs shipbreaking

beaches of bangladesh

worker solidarity

barbara briggs

serious ongoing research