General
Border controls leave an army of invisible workers trapped on floating sweatshops
Ronbert Bibat had been trapped inside the rusty belly of a lumbering 39,000-tonne cargo ship for well over a year.
Key points:
- Border restrictions designed to stall the spread of coronavirus have left around 400,000 seafarers stranded at sea
- Worldwide, there are more than 50,000 commercial vessels, many of which escape oversight by registering in tax havens
- Australian authorities have contributed to the predicament of these workers by failing to find a solution to allow for crew changeovers
“Four times we received the news that we can go home, but it suddenly got cancelled,” he said. “I don’t know why.”
He was one of 22 Filipino crew members confined to the bulk carrier MV Starlight as it crisscrossed the oceans, hauling coal, manganese ore…
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