Prioritize safety to ensure safe return of workers

Inaugural speech of Mr Satoshi Sasaki, Deputy Director, ILO DWT South Asia and India, at webinar on COVID Preventive Measures in Natural Stone Industry.

Statement | Jaipur, Rajasthan (Webinar) | 18 June 2020
A very warm welcome to all of you to this tripartite webinar on “Preventive Measures in Natural Stone Industry“. It is a pleasure for the ILO to organise this webinar jointly with the State Government of Rajasthan on a very topical issue, in a timely manner. Natural stone industry is of utmost significance to Rajasthan, for employment and revenue, especially in remote and rural areas. The outputs from this industry also forms important inputs for other major sectors, notably, cement. And it is a key determinant of infrastructure development in the country.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly put a halt to production world-wide or slowed operations in the supply chains across various sectors, including mining. The ILO was quick to recognize that COVID-19 is not just a health crisis. It is an economic and labour market crisis as well. The crisis has affected quantity of jobs and quality of employment. It has put already vulnerable groups at further risk. Therefore, it calls for urgent, large-scale and coordinated measures across four pillars to respond to this pandemic, including:
  1. Protecting workers in the workplace;
  2. Stimulating the economy and employment;
  3. Supporting enterprises, jobs and incomes; and
  4. Relying on dialogue between workers and employers for solutions
While flexible work arrangements like work-sharing, part-time attendance or teleworking using technology are possible in other sectors. But it is difficult to apply it in the context of the Natural Stone Industry. The high incidence of informality in the supply chain of natural stone industry, due to dominance of micro entrepreneurs, self-employed, daily wage earners, contract and casual workers, especially rural migrants, necessitates extensive health protection coverage as well as skill and entrepreneurship development opportunities to sustain productivity of workforce under the ‘New Normal’ conditions.

This also calls for guidance to employers and workers to operate in this ‘New Normal’. That is to facilitate safe return to workplaces, and be productive. This is what today’s webinar is to contribute.
As the lockdown has been gradually phasing out and the focus is increasingly on recovery, even though COVID cases are still rising. We must pay equal attention to the economic resilience. Towards this, the ILO with Flanders’ support, will be engaging with its tripartite partners in coming months, to facilitate development of a state-wide strategy for the sustainable development of natural stone industry in Rajasthan.

In closing, let me emphasize that the need of the hour is collaborative action between workers, employers and government to strengthen supply chains and revive the sector, alongside safety of our primary assets, that is, the workforce.

Thank you for your kind attention.