Jewelry workers face new challenges
For over 2,500 years, the people of Khambhet, India have been masters of shaping and polishing agate and gems into beautiful pieces of jewelry and art. For centuries this work was done on a small scale: inside a person’s home or in small community collectives, using simple tools and methods. As time passed, demand grew. With this demand, a system of greed, corruption and exploitation began to emerge. Processing agate was no longer done on a small scale and the labor structure became increasingly hierarchical and inequitable.
With this shift came many repercussions and challenges for the agate workers. The boost in production led to an increase in the amount of silicate dust in the air the workers breathe. Because the work was generally done in people’s homes, workers and their families began to develop sometimes fatal lung diseases such as silicosis and silico-tuberculosis. Additionally, the increased demand led to greater incidence of accident and injury. The change in labor structure separated the worker from the consumer as middle men and traders entered the scene seeking a profit. These middle men have failed to pay their laborers fair wages and have manipulated them into a system of bondage by giving loans that are impossible to repay.
Creating local support systems
Jagdish Patel, a chemical engineer by training, developed an interest in occupational health and safety when he began working in a factory outside of Baroda, India and saw that the workers were employed in unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. He soon realized that his ambitions were not to climb the corporate ladder, but, instead, to act as an organizer and advocate for fair working conditions. He established the Peoples Training and Resource Center (PTRC) to improve occupational health standards and practices throughout India.
The Center is actively involved in both proactive and reactive measures to improve the safety and well being of workers. This has especially been the case in Khambhet. Here, the Center has developed a small health clinic near the communities where agate work is being done. It has persuaded the local hospital to donate medicine and provide workers with free chest x-rays. It opened a daycare for children of agate workers, thus lowering their exposure to silicate dust. Additionally, the daycare organizes monthly outings for those children who have lost one or both parents to illness from silicate dust. This locally-based organization is one of the only resources for laborers in the region, providing essential support that neither factory owners nor the government are willing to fund.
The Peoples Training and Resource Center’s success in these initiatives was supported by small grants recommended by Greengrants’ India Advisory Board. Since 2002, Greengrants has provided the Center with five grants totaling $17,775.
Using information for empowerment
Greengrants’ grants went to fund a variety of activities, including acquiring medical equipment to test quarry workers for silicosis and noise-induced deafness. This equipment – while low in cost – has had a tremendous impact in educating the public about silicosis and workers rights. The data gathered from testing the agate workers was used to help raise awareness about the prevalence of occupational health hazards among local health officials, which led to the donation of services and additional medical supplies. This information was also used to help silicosis-afflicted workers receive compensation for this occupational disease – a major step forward for workers who have few places to turn to for support.
In 2006, the Center, with funds from Greengrants, established an “Advice Center” to educate workers about dust-related lung diseases and their rights, and to encourage laborers to speak out against wage and occupational safety abuses. Because of the system of bonded labor, a labor surplus, and blatant intimidation, these initiatives have faced significant challenges. Many workers are afraid to voice complaints; they cannot risk the income that their families depend on to survive.
Nevertheless, Jagdish and the other members of the Center remain optimistic. They plan to open a small office in the near future that will include a library with information on workers rights and occupational health and safety. Building workers’ trust in the Center and increasing their confidence in their ability to stand up for their rights is a long-term process. By creating a more formal presence in the community, the Center can increase its profile as a reliable and safe source of information and solidarity. To find out more about this work, click here.
The future of labor rights in India
The right to a safe workplace is one we too often take for granted; in India, there is clearly a long road ahead that needs our continued support and investment. Greengrantsí India Advisory Board is funding organizations like this one throughout India, slowly building a movement to support workersí rights in an environment that can be extremely difficult. By working directly with laborers, these locally-based groups are ideally positioned to increase public awareness about labor rights and promote safe working conditions. The Peoples Training and Resource Centerís work clearly demonstrates that small steps can have an important positive impact for workers who suffer daily from unsafe labor practices.